For years UK police forces have seen officers emigrate to
Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Now a UK police force
is turning the tables on their antipodean colleagues and
advertising directly for them to return to the UK - and
receive a £10,000 bounty.
British police officers have always been in high demand
overseas, and are often afforded 'skilled worker'
immigration status meaning their immigration passage is
smoothed and they can take up residence and work in
countries like Australia with active help from the
Australian authorities. Australian figures show that former
British police officers make up almost one in 11 of the
force in Western Australia, with 480 UK Officers among its
5500 strong police force.
Now a Midlands force is fighting back. Fed up with having
their officers set off for sunnier climates after having
been poached by the Australian police, Leicestershire
police is running an advertising campaign entitled
"Homesick & Away?" aimed at encouraging UK trained police
officers to return to Britain to work in the county.
People may wonder why anyone would want to leave the
blistering heat and relaxed lifestyle of Australia, but
research has shown that moving away from the 'green and
pleasant land' has its drawbacks. Of things missed by
emigrants, the top ten was:
1. The Sunday Roast
2. Cadbury's Chocolate
3. English Tea
4. Marks & Spencer Underwear
5. Football Banter (Who really understands Aussie rules?)
6. Budget Holidays in Europe
7. A Traditionally Festive White Christmas
8. Real Ale
9. The British Accent
10. Marmite
Another reason seems to be their love-lives. Mark Wickenden
from Uniform Dating, an online dating site for the
emergency services, says that the Australian members are
often ex UK police officers or nurses, and that they use
the site to form relationships in the UK before returning.
'Many of the reasons they cite are to do with the different
attitudes towards emergency service personnel in
Australia'. One police member, who has since returned to
the UK and married a nurse, said 'In the UK, we all have a
laugh together and go to 999 parties - in Australia things
are a little less fun'.
Sgt Ed Des-Chanelle, who has returned to Leicestershire
after 18 months in New Zealand has said, "It was funny how
whenever someone visited from the UK, we'd ask them to
bring all the things we missed the most - it was always a
shame they couldn't have brought the whole family!"
Chief Superintendent Geoff Feavyour of Leicestershire
Constabulary said, "Often when people relocate they feel
homesick and want to move back, but due to financial
constraints they are not able to do so. Some people find
the prospect more comfortable when they are offered
assistance in returning to the UK. We are offering a
relocation package of up to £10,000 to put towards the
expense of relocating. In return we get a fully trained
police officer ready to go, and we think that is good
value. We are also drawn to the irony of turning the
tables on our antipodean colleagues"
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Police Oracle (http://www.policeoracle.com ) is the leading
independent police Internet site in the UK. It carries
police news, police current affairs and politics, police
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