WE like to think that

British police officers are the best in the world.

They may be underfunded, undermanned and hamstrung by bureaucracy and legal niceties, but they do a difficult job with fairness and professionalism.

And that's because only the most upstanding men and women of society get to wear that blue uniform - or so we thought.

Because it seems that, after launching a recruitment drive recently, West Mercia Constabulary rejected 150 applications without even looking at them.

People who would have made magnificent bobbies ended up missing their chance for the simple reason that police bosses decided they already had enough applications to fill their quota.

So the main criterion determining whether someone becomes a police officer or not was the date their application form arrived at the force's Hindlip Hall HQ.

This is not acceptable

If we want the world's best police force, we need the world's best police officers - and that means looking at every single person who applies for the job.

That's the only way we'll know we really are choosing the cream of the crop.

We're sure the new boys and girls in blue chosen by West Mercia will do a great job.

But that's not the point.

Because there could be even

better potential officers out there who may be lost to the police force forever because of a cynical administrative ploy.

We'll never know.