Graduates can take 14-week fast track to be counter-terror police

A SCHEME offering high-flying graduates a fast-track route to becoming detectives has been expanded to include counter-terror policing in an effort to increase diversity in the unit.

Police Now allows candidates with a degree to qualify as detectives within 14 weeks and means they do not have to spend the traditional two years as uniformed bobbies on the beat.

It has seen about 500 recruits join CID units in forces across England and Wales, helping to investigate crimes such as fraud, robbery and theft.

But now for the first time Police Now is recruiting people to join SO15, Scotland Yard’s specialised counter-terror unit. The Metropolitan Police said the scheme would help boost diversity and “ensure we reflect the communities and country that we serve” amid concern that too few people from ethnic minority communities are joining up.

Counter-terror policing is especially keen to recruit officers from diverse backgrounds, especially the communities from where plots might emerge.

But it is feared a series of scandals concluding in Baroness Casey of Blackstock’s report that labelled the Met “institutionally racist” will further impact on diversity recruitment targets.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, who runs CT policing, said: “At Counter Terrorism Policing we are always looking for new ways to build on our diverse workforce to ensure we reflect the communities and country that we serve.

“This applies to our recruitment of both officers and staff for a range of incredible, life-saving roles working at the forefront of national security.

“This pilot project is part of our ongoing commitment to support different pathways into Counter Terrorism Policing and policing more widely.”

While the Police Now scheme may tempt candidates from different backgrounds, there is concern about how effective enhanced vetting checks will be on young, inexperienced graduates, fresh out of university.

One former detective who worked in SO15 said: “Direct entry into CT for young graduates shouldn’t present competence challenges, detection is a process that you can train most people to undertake. I think the risks are more associated with the prospects of getting a viable vetting picture.

‘I do wonder how much of a grip on reality a direct entry counter-terrorism detective might have’

“How do you vet someone whose life experience is, potentially, so limited as to not even be able to demonstrate reliability as an employee?”

The scheme also has its critics among those who claim fast-tracking candidates into specialised roles does not allow them to develop the skills that are built up during years spent climbing the traditional ladder.

One counter-terror source said: “I do believe that there is value in doing your apprenticeship as a detective.

“Investigating bulk crime and cutting your teeth in the high pressure, unrelenting workload of a main office CID team certainly tests your resilience.

“Detectives in SO15 have usually earned their stripes and I do wonder how much of a grip on reality a direct entry CT detective might have. The resources available to you in SO15 are a tad different to those available to you in the Streatham robbery team.”

Kurtis Christoforides, the chief executive of Police Now, insisted the expansion of the programme into counter-terrorism would be carefully managed to ensure that only the most suitable candidates made it through.

He said: “We started from a position of scepticism and that is the right place to start because of the risk. But actually having really looked into it in some detail, where we have landed is that if done right, if you get the right people and the training is good and the support is good, then CT policing can be a really good place for investigators to start.

“Going from zero to being a fully qualified detective in two years, let alone a CT detective, is really tall order. No one here is under any illusion about the scale of the challenge.”