Over 2,000 rookie cops recruited to boost police numbers left during probation period
MORE than 2,000 rookie officers recruited to boost police numbers left during their probation period.
They were being trained as part of a Government drive to take on an additional 20,000 officers.
But at least 2,012 rookies did not complete their probation and were fired or resigned, figures obtained by The Sun on Sunday show.
Some were dismissed for being unfit.
One, in Liverpool, was lost because he could not work handcuffs or a police radio properly — and had “difficulty understanding the Merseyside accent”.
Critics claim forces cut corners to fill their vacancies.
An officer’s probation can last two or three years depending on their route into the force.
The drop-outs toll is likely to be even higher as three of the 44 forces in England and Wales — including Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire — failed to provide figures in our Freedom of Information inquiry.
Forces that lost the most probationary officers last year were the Met (415) and West Midlands (110).
Former chief inspector of constabulary Sir Thomas Windsor said that the size and speed of recruitment meant there was a “heightened danger that people unsuited to policing may get through and be recruited”.