Police succeed in recruiting new detectives as more officers shun the work

Tactics used to help counter a shortage of detectives in Barnsley are being suggested for use across the South Yorkshire force after a surge in applications.
By Paul Whitehouse
Published 11th Jul 2019, 12:18 BST
Updated 11th Jul 2019, 12:18 BST

Police nationally have found it increasingly difficult to fill CID posts and in South Yorkshire it is believed one reason may be recent changes to working conditions for regular uniformed officers, including new shift patterns, may have left some feeling detective roles are less attractive.

However, in the Barnsley district, all student officers have been put on a two week attachment with CID, to provide a flavour of the opportunities the job can offer.

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Barnsley’s district commander, Chief Supt Scott Green said: “As a result we have had eight applications for training, the highest number in the force, from the smallest district.

“That has been presented to other district commanders, to do similar work to encourage applications into CID,” he said.

The move was a response to “not insignificant” vacancies in CID, he told South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings, at a meeting of his Public Accountability Board.

All four of the county’s policing areas have now had local CID offices re-instated, after they were centralised several years ago, with positive results.

A centralised team remains for investigating homicides and other major crimes.