Wiltshire Police look to recruit officers

Wiltshire Police intends to recruit officers to create a pool of applicants to service its vacancies over the next three years.

Applicants need to be aged between 18 and 57 with a minimum of five GCSEs.

Chief Constable Pat Geenty said although the service was facing many challenges, policing remained "an excellent career choice".

The new officers are due to start work for the force in late 2013 and early 2014 on a starting salary of £19,000.

A recruitment freeze had been in place at the force since September 2009, though that was lifted during summer 2012.

Then 30 officers were recruited and Mr Geenty said another 30 would be recruited "in the very near future".

The latest announcement came shortly after a survey revealed half the staff questioned in the force's annual survey did not think there were enough people to do the job properly.

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman declined to say how many officers the constabulary was looking to recruit in this intake.

But she added it aimed to create a "pool of applicants to cope with the intake of officers over the next two to three years".

Candidates must live within Wiltshire, Somerset, the greater Bristol area, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall, Thames Valley, Dorset, Hampshire or south Wales.

An online application form is due to be posted on the constabulary website, which will be closed once required levels of interest are numbers have been met.