Met Police: Recruitment advert unrealistic, critics say

The advert is designed to look like a trailer for an action film

An "exciting" TV recruitment campaign for the Metropolitan Police has been described as "a theatrical masterpiece but not reality" by the association representing officers in the force.

The advert shows officers defusing bombs, on a boat and handling firearms.

The Met needs to sign up nearly 4,000 new officers by April to meet its latest recruitment target.

The Met Police Federation said a better move would be improving pay and conditions for serving officers.

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Ken Marsh, head of the federation, said: "If you look at the video, a new serving police officer will not be doing any of those things.

"It's very exciting, I was quite impressed when I watched it - it is a theatrical masterpiece but it's not reality, unfortunately.

"It's not what's expected of new constables who will be working morning, noon and night doing the most routine work there is and the hardest work there is in policing.

"What you're seeing in the video is elite policing."

The advert's strapline is "choose a career most people only see on screen"

In April, the Met reached its highest officer head count of 34,542, and is aiming to reach 36,500 by April.

Taking into account those who will retire and leave during that time, the force needs to recruit nearly 4,000 officers, which is twice the number it usually would in a year.

Former director general of the National Crime Agency Lynne Owens also reacted to the action-packed advert, saying on Twitter: "I'm wondering whether adverts like this set the right expectation for the right people?"

Entry-level police officers won't be working in specialised areas, critics of the advert say

A spokesperson for the Met said the scenes were "inherently dramatic" and gave a "realistic flavour" of the different activities officers carried out in their day-to-day jobs.

The spokesperson added that the idea was to convey to people who love TV police shows "that they don't need to just watch the action from their sofas but could be part of it themselves if they choose to join up".

Mr Marsh said: "I understand why they're doing it - they're desperate to recruit - but they need to actually understand why they're in the position that they're in, rather than spending I don't know how many tens of thousands on that video."

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