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A diverse cohort of 191 new neighbourhood police officers are set to join the Metropolitan Police Service on 10th September, after completing their initial training at Police Now’s academy.
The new officers are on Police Now’s two-year National Graduate Leadership Programme, which recruits, trains and develops brilliant and diverse graduates to become neighbourhood officers on the frontline and drive improvements in policing.
This is the first cohort of Police Now’s programme in almost ten years that is wholly dedicated to supporting the UK’s largest police force, the Met. Despite the significant recruitment challenges facing the Met, over 5,000 applications were submitted for this cohort of Police Now’s programme. All those accepted onto the programme demonstrated their strong motivation for driving positive change across London and tackling the well reported cultural challenges facing the force.
“We are delighted to welcome over 190 new officers who have successfully completed their initial training at the Police Now academy. These officers will play an integral role in achieving the priorities laid out in the new Met for London plan; strengthening local policing teams and focusing on the issues that matter most to Londoners.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Helen Millichap of the Metropolitan Police Service.
Police Now consistently recruits more diversity into policing than the national average and typically recruits those who hadn’t previously considered a career in policing – delivering essential difference into the service.
Of those recruited to this cohort of the National Graduate Leadership Programme, 45% of officers identify as female and 30% are from ethnic minority backgrounds, including 10% from Black heritage backgrounds, with a total of 39 languages spoken across the cohort.
The officers were attested at Police Now’s training academy in July and have spent the last seven weeks developing their core policing skills and knowledge, preparing to serve and protect London. They completed the academy on 6th September and will now land in the Met to continue their frontline training, before joining neighbourhood policing teams across the capital for the remainder of the programme.
Over the next two years and beyond, they will be supported by Police Now and their force colleagues to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and build public confidence in policing.
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