Recruiting new police officers on Isle of Man 'tricky'

Gary Roberts said about 30 extra officers were needed

The resignation of two officers "within weeks" of completing training shows how difficult it is to get local recruits, the Manx chief constable has said.

Gary Roberts said the pair, who were among eight new recruits, had found front-line policing "too difficult to deal with".

He told Tynwald that it was "really easy" to attract officers from the UK but recruiting locally was "tricky".

A former officer said the force needed to make "expectations meet reality".

Giving evidence to the Social Affairs Policy Review Committee, Mr Roberts said the Isle of Man needed to recruit "in the region of 30 extra officers" after an increase in funding from the treasury to support neighbourhood policing.

He said a third would be transferees from UK police forces, but new recruits had to carry out 14 weeks of initial training before spending a further 10 weeks on "supervised patrol" with experienced officers.

"We've just had eight student officers finish their initial training, but sadly two of them have left the service within weeks," he said.

"Quite simply, they've found the difference between the classroom and reality too difficult to deal with."

He added that the force's latest recruitment drive had attracted 72 local applications, which would now be considered.

Speaking after the hearing, former inspector Derek Flint said it was "really difficult to replicate the experience of being a police officer in any sort of simulation.

"Perhaps we need a root and branch review of how we induct people and make sure that the expectations meet reality," he added.