Should police forces recruit people directly to become detectives without having worked in uniform?

Aspiring officers can join the Metropolitan Police as trainee detective constables with full police powers, without having to spend time on the beat in uniform.

Scotland Yard hopes to attract people with diverse skills and backgrounds to help plug a shortage of detectives across the force, with plans to recruit 160 trainee detectives by this time next year.

The Met needs 600 more detectives, and in March a report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said its 15% shortfall was part of a wider national crisis, highlighting high workloads and the "intense scrutiny" detectives face.

The new scheme, a first in the UK, will allow Londoners to join the Met directly as detective constables, working on investigations as soon as they have finished their training.

New recruits, who must have a degree and have lived in the capital for three of the last six years, will go through a two-year programme, earning an initial salary of just under £30,000.

After a series of assessments and interviews, trainees, each mentored by a former detective, will have an 18-week course to learn the basics of investigative policing, before spending 12 weeks working in London's boroughs and a further seven on another course.

While not in uniform, all trainees will be issued with personal protective equipment, a baton, handcuffs, CS spray and vest.

The move was welcomed by Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who said anything to increase numbers in the Met's CID was "favourable".

He said: "The fact that they won't be wearing a uniform is not the be-all and end-all.

"As long as they are trained to the correct standard so they can deal with anything that's put in front of them should that happen.

"We have to recognise that it's changing, crime out there, and we need specialists in specialist roles.

"If people are coming forward who want to specifically do that rather than just roll around with people in uniform then good on them."

Mr Marsh suggested serving detectives would welcome the trainees as a welcome boost to their numbers.

He said: "We can't complain when we've been banging on for the last two years that we're 800 short in CID.

"We can't then suddenly turn around and say, 'we're not happy with this', it's a bit counter-productive.

"At least they're trying something different to try and increase the numbers within the CID, so we've got to be in favour of that I think."

Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Clayman, who leads the detective recruitment programme, said: "London continues to change and so do its criminals.

"Increasing complex crimes such as cyber-criminality and the pressing need to protect vulnerable people mean our investigators need to develop new expertise.

"To meet these challenges and to face future threats the Met will need to equip its officers, present and future, with the right skills and capabilities.

"We will need to ensure we are even more innovative in the way we recruit, and that we look and feel like the Londoners we serve."

An initial recruitment campaign runs until July 3.

But the national Police Federation said recruiting non-police officers to plug the UK's shortage of detectives was not a "magic bullet".

Karen Stephens, the representative for detectives at the federation, said with the rank's numbers falling faster than any other group of police officers the Met's effort to "stem the haemorrhage" was understandable.

But she said forces should look to existing officers before seeking for answers outside the world of policing, and also questioned the Met's insistence that candidates have degrees, with a danger of marginalising and excluding good candidates and limiting the pool available.

She said: "We believe that individuals first need a grounding on what it takes to be an officer in the 21st century.

"Direct entry is not a magic bullet for the current detective shortage which has reached crisis proportions, as recognised by HMIC earlier this year.

"Detectives need first-hand experience of responding in an operational capacity to incidents they would not encounter in any other walk of life, the bedrock of British policing is the office of constable.

"In relation to this specific role the question must be asked, what has changed to create the gap?

"Why is a role that people once queued up to do not a desirable one anymore?

"There are many contributing factors including workload, the changing types of crime, the fact that the role is not family-friendly and more."