Hampshire crime commissioner hits out at Met's decision to offer £5k bonus

The Met is facing a growing chorus of criticism over its decision to offer experienced officers a £5,000 bonus to jump ship and join the London force.

Britain's biggest police organisation is determined to recruit 4,000 new officers by March next year to help it tackle violent crime and other issues.

But Hampshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, described the Met's decision to offer a cash incentive as "outrageous".

She tweeted: "This does nothing to recruit a single new police officer across the UK. Met failings should not be Hampshire & IOW's problem."

The Met is offering a £5k bonus in a bid to recruit officers.

The bonus has also come under fire from Zoe Wakefield, chairman of Hampshire Police Federation, who said all police officers across the country needed to be paid fairly.

She added: "The government are creating a situation where forces are having to compete against each other to increase their numbers to meet the targets set by the government.

“Police officers should be transferring because they want the experience of working in another force or because they want or need to relocate for personal reasons. It should never be a financial decision.

"This would not need to happen if police officers were paid fairly to start with.

Zoe Wakefield, chairman of the Hampshire Police Federation.

"The government needs to increase police pay to an acceptable level if they want to attract people into the service and retain the experienced officers who are leaving and getting jobs in the private sector, earning sometimes £20,000 more with less stress, risk and trauma.”

The Met said it was taking "bold steps" to recruit a new record number of police officers in the next ten months.

Its director of resources, Clare Davies, said: "Our growth is helping us achieve positive results in driving down violent crime and bolstering our presence in town centres and in neighbourhoods across London.

“The additional measures we have introduced are all targeted at making the Met competitive in the London job market at a time when all police forces and a number of other sectors are recruiting.

"We will be doing everything we can whilst we have the funding to encourage the best of the best to join us."

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article - we appreciate your support in reading the Daily Echo.

Subscribing to the Echo means you have unrestricted access to the latest news, features and Saints coverage - all with an advertising-light website.

You will also have full access to Saintsplus, your new home for Southampton FC tactical analysis, features and much, much more.

Don't take my word for it - subscribe here to see for yourself.

Follow the latest breaking news in the Southampton area by joining our Facebook group - Southampton News - Breaking News and Incidents

Follow the latest court and crime news on our dedicated Facebook group - Hampshire Court and Crime News