More of half of the new trainees starting with West Midlands Police graduate programme are women.
The fifty-six new trainee detectives have being recruited through Police Now鈥檚 National Graduate Programme. Forty-five of the new officers will specialise in counter terrorism investigations.
The scheme is being rolled out as part of new counter terrorism specialism which is expanding to the region for the first time following a successful pilot in London last year.
The other 11 officers will specialise as detectives in CID (Criminal Investigation Departments) across the force to probe a range of complex cases, seek justice for victims of crime, and build public confidence in policing.
Of among them 63 per cent identify as women and 21per cent identify as coming from an ethnic minority background 鈥 both figures are significantly higher than the national policing average of 35.4 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively.
Det Chf Supt Alison Hurst, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands gave an address to the trainees at the start of their academy training in March. She said: 鈥淭his is the first time that we have welcomed detectives into our counter terrorism unit directly from Police Now, and so the path that the newly sworn in officers are on is an innovative approach for us and the new detectives.
鈥淚 am certain that the passion, ideas and energy that these officers will be bringing to Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands will be pivotal in driving forward service, progress and change to the ever-evolving world of counter terrorism.鈥
The new officers have just completed 13-weeks of intensive training at Police Now鈥檚 national, residential academy – where they sat the challenging National Investigators鈥 Exam, achieving outstanding results. The exam first-time pass rate at Police Now鈥檚 academy this year was 73.1per cent compared to the policing national average pass rate of 54.8 per cent.
The officers now land on the frontline, gaining essential frontline skills and knowledge in response teams before moving into their respective detective specialisms through the two-year programme. Those on the CT specialism will join CTPWM teams to prevent, deter, and investigate terrorist activity alongside their experienced colleagues.
Police Now recruits, trains and supports graduates into specialist policing roles.