SCANDAL OF POLICE JOBS

Now they stand accused of picking frontline officers based on how quickly they completed their job applications, rather than on their ability or character.

The West Mercia force received letters from 921 candidates following a campaign to put more bobbies on the beat. But they discarded the last 150 to arrive because by then they felt they had enough applicants.

One of the people rejected, a former special constable, said the force was ludicrous for ignoring so many applications.

Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff said he would raise the matter, which was uncovered by the Worcester News using Freedom of Information powers, in Parliament today.

One in six applications for West Mercia was rejected without even being looked at

A DRIVE to put more bobbies on the beat has been mired in controversy after it emerged that one in six applications were rejected without even being looked at.

West Mercia police automatically rejected 150 of 921 candidates, regardless of their qualifications and experience, because they dealt with them in date order.

When it was decided that enough applications had been received to fill about 200 vacancies for the 'Be Somebody' campaign, they stopped processing them - even though the candidates had not missed the deadline for applying.

The force, which polices Worcestershire and Herefordshire, initially refused to reveal how many were ignored and the figures are only now being made public after the Worcester News made a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

West Mercia said this spring's recruitment drive had been an overwhelming success and that its methods were fairest for candidates.

But Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff said he would raise the issue with the Home Office during a Parliament-ary debate today about community policing in the county.

"I'm disturbed that West Mercia Constabulary may have failed to recruit the best possible candidates and I think in fairness all candidates should be considered," said the Conservative.

"We don't have as many police officers on the streets of Worcestershire as I would like so it is crucial the ones employed are the best possible available."

Worcester's Labour MP Mike Foster, who initiated the House of Commons debate before the figures were revealed, described the force's methods as unusual.

"If you're really, really keen you might get the application in as soon as possible but that doesn't necessarily mean you're the best," he said.

"They will be a recruiting about a quarter of what is there so there is going to be some filtering process to weed out the best.

"But I would have thought West Mercia, quite frankly, would have a better way of doing it than date of receipt.

"It is something they may regret in terms of the bad feeling it is creating."

The police force declined to comment on concerns that the rejected 150 might have been among the best overall applicants.

POLICE RESPONSE

West Mercia's recruitment manager Danielle Wood said in a statement: "From historical success rates we knew we would not require all of the submitted applications.

"The Home Office guidance to forces is that we should not keep people in the system for longer than necessary so a number of the applications were returned to give the applicants the opportunity to apply elsewhere, or continue gaining valuable experience.

"The applications were looked at in the order that they came in, so the people who applied earliest are being progressed, which was the fairest way.

"However our advice to people whose applications have been returned is to continue to monitor the force's website as we do anticipate advertising again next year for vacancies for 2007/08.

"The force also has opportunities for people interested in joining the police staff, or becoming a community support officer, and again, information is available on the website."

FORMER SPECIAL CONSTABLE SAYS POLICE RECRUITMENT SYSTEM IS LUDICROUS

A FORMER special constable who was one of the 150 hopefuls automatically rejected by West Mercia has spoken of his frustration with the force's "ludicrous" recruitment system.

The man, who did not want to be identified for fear of jeopardising any future applications, was confident of reaching the final stages.

He had only missed out during a previous recruitment campaign after failing a physical, the seventh test, and spent just less than a year as a special.

"Bearing in mind I can now run four or five miles three times a week I don't think I would have had any problems," said the Worcester man.

"It leads me to question the quality of the police on the street.

"They are still going to have a decent selection procedure but are they just trying to be good or the best?

"Even if I'm not the strongest candidate there might be others they've discarded purely on a numbers basis which I think is dangerous if you are trying to police the city.

"I'm now looking at police cars driving past thinking the person in that car could have taken my job but they might not have been as good as me.

"The decision by the police just seems ludicrous to me."

The university graduate underwent a doctor's examination prior to spending hours completing his application and submitting it before the closing date at the end of April. "I was doing 50 hours a week at work and then in the evenings spending until 10pm or 11pm getting the application finished and fine-tuned.

"For them to decide they didn't want to even look at it, I was gobsmacked," he said.

"I think they should write to everyone and say we are prepared to assess our applications and take it forward because people have put a lot of time into it.

"But I might be earning double a police officer's wage when it comes to applying again.

"This might have been a blessing in disguise for me."