EXCLUSIVE: Graduates on pilot trainee detective scheme are 'queue jumping' serving police of

GRADUATE trainee detectives, with no policing experience, are queue jumping police officers to get jobs, it is claimed.

Detectives from Greater Manchester Police said serving police officers, who applied to the force to become detectives, had been snubbed in favour of direct-entry graduates on a pilot scheme.

The Police Federation Detectives' Forum heard that the first ever raft of 94 direct-entry graduates are in their first weeks of training through the Police Now Detectives Academy.

Police Now is a charity which recruits graduates into the police force and this is the first time it has sought to recruit detectives, Kurtis Christoforides, its programme director, (pictured above) told the forum.

There is a national shortage of more than 4,000 detectives and Police Now hopes direct entry can stem the gap.

POLICE NOW: Mr Christoforides shows how many forces are involved in scheme (Jon Austin)

Mr Christoforides also said that with more complex and computer based crimes it was good to bring in detectives with a greater variety of backgrounds provided they were "inquisitive problem solvers who can communicate with anyone and gain people's trust."

But, during a question and answer session detectives from GMP said serving officers who applied to be detectives had been overlooked and told by HR that the force had to prioritise the graduate pilot scheme applications.

One detective said: "You said they are not taking the places of existing police applicants, but they are and that is not fair on those coming in and those overlooked in favour of a project that has not been tested nationally."

Mr Christoforides said: "Displacement is not our intention, but it has got to be tested somewhere otherwise we will never know if it works."