Police chief revives graduate scheme - graduate jobs

A former chief constable has said that the police should take steps to increase graduate recruitment in order to compete with medicine, law and the Army.

According to Peter Neyroud the chief executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency and formerly Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, a career in the police is not seen as an attractive option for the middle classes, with many university-educated students overlooking a career in law enforcement.

In his new role Mr Neyroud is reviving the scheme to recruit young graduates wishing to join the police.

Mr Neyroud says more should be done to recruit graduates to the profession and changes must be made to promotion practices, as well as opportunities for long-term career development.

He said the Home Office's decision to axe the police graduate recruitment scheme was the "most foolish" decision of the past decade and it is time to end its inverted snobbery.

He said: "If we are going to attract people, we have to offer people from middle-class backgrounds, whose children now have an expectation of university education, the challenge of a profession that meets a graduate's expectations."