£12m recruiting failure for police

A £12million police advertising campaign has been criticised for failing to attract enough recruits.

Advertisements which featured figures such as Bob Geldof and boxer Lennox Lewis generated thousands of enquiries but figures suggest only a few hundred officers were taken on as a direct result. Of the 43 forces in England and Wales, only 13 have figures on how many extra officers the campaign recruited - and they recorded only 120. Shadow cabinet office minister-Tim Collins said: "This government is spending more money on advertising than any previous government. It's all being spent on making the Government look good, not on seriously tackling police numbers."

However, a Home Office spokeswoman said: "Our training colleges are full and we are on target to reach our pledge of 130,000 officers by spring next year."