Candidates can now be assessed without any physical contact

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Police forces across England and Wales are hoping to meet recruitment targets via the use of an online tool that allows prospective police officers to be assessed without any physical contact.

The government has pledged to put an extra 20,000 officers on the streets via a national “uplift” programme. The first staging post on the road towards this target is to bring in 6,000 new recruits by March 2021.

As of last week, it claims to have hired 4,336 new officers – equating to 72% of the 6,000 target.

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According to the government, recruitment has been able to continue during the coronavirus crisis as almost three quarters of the 43 forces throughout England and Wales have adopted the online assessment platform, developed by the College of Policing. 

“There is still more to do,” government said. “The home secretary [Priti Patel] is… writing to forces, praising them for their recruitment progress but urging them to fully utilise the opportunity presented by the uplift campaign to continue to diversify the police workforce. Recruitment has continued at pace during the coronavirus pandemic, with forces adopting innovative solutions to bring in new talent.”

It added: “The digital platform is already being used in 30 forces and will expand across the remaining forces during the next three months.”