Metropolitan Police Allocates £9 Million for Recruitment Campaigns, Yet Falls Short of New Officer Quota

The Metropolitan Police Service is grappling with a recruitment challenge, failing to meet its officer intake target despite a substantial surge in advertising expenditure aimed at enticing Londoners to join its ranks, I can exclusively reveal.

Data obtained through freedom of information requests discloses that Scotland Yard, which has been marred by declining public trust following a series of serious incidents involving its officers, has escalated its spending on recruitment advertising by 29 times over the past three years – from £301,000 in 2020 to over £8.8 million last year.

As the UK’s largest police force, the Met is under considerable pressure to bolster its personnel. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley pledged to identify and remove officers who shouldn’t have passed vetting procedures and to ensure that the right individuals are patrolling the streets of London.

However, despite this significant surge in recruitment expenditure, the Met was the sole police force in England and Wales last year to fall short of its recruitment target, enlisting just over 3,300 new officers, nearly 20 percent below its goal of 4,077.

Internal data indicates a drastic drop in the effectiveness of Yard’s recruitment campaigns. In 2020, they brought in 2,438 new officers, resulting in an advertising cost of £123 per recruit. Last year, although they managed to increase their recruitment to 3,305, the advertising expenditure per officer skyrocketed to £2,665 – a surge of approximately 2,000 percent since 2020.

These figures have drawn criticism from members of the London Assembly policing committee, who are concerned that recent blows to the Met’s reputation are actively discouraging Londoners from considering a career with the force. Earlier this year, the Yard acknowledged the need for a “significantly different” approach to attract enough applicants, emphasizing that advertising is just one element of its recruitment strategy.

A damning report by Baroness Louise Casey, commissioned in the aftermath of the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens, earlier this year, concluded that the force was afflicted by institutional racism, along with evidence of widespread bullying and “deep-seated homophobia” within the ranks. The comprehensive 300-page document also found that female officers “routinely face sexism and misogyny”.

Polling indicates a substantial drop in public confidence in the Met, particularly among women. One survey revealed that just under half of women “strongly” or “somewhat” distrust the force, while nearly three-quarters of all respondents felt that officers treated certain segments of society differently.

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesperson for police and crime in the London Assembly, asserts that it is evident that the Met must significantly intensify its recruitment efforts to combat this distrust. She questions whether the current advertising strategy is up to the task, stating, “These figures certainly do bring into question whether or not current recruitment advertising methods are delivering value for money… The situation also reflects the fact that there is clearly a massive need to rehabilitate the image of the Met as a positive career choice to potential recruits given the outcomes of the Baroness Casey Review and all the events that preceded it.”

Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for mayor standing against incumbent Sadiq Khan in next May’s election, accused her opponent, whose role includes setting the Met’s priorities and agreeing its budget, of being “asleep on the job”. She said: “We have got to get trust and confidence back in the Met Police, so we can recruit more people into the force and get them back on the beat.”

The Mayor’s office said the number of officers in the Met was now at its highest-ever level and a further £300,000 had been invested by Mr Khan in community outreach events to find new recruits. A spokesperson added: “The Mayor is working with the Commissioner to ensure the Metropolitan Police is a service which earns back the confidence and trust of the public and reflects the diversity of the city it serves at every rank.”

The Met stated paid-for advertising was one of a wide range of tactics used for recruitment.