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£5million will help Police Now expand across 19 forces and take on 250 graduates recruits.

Yesterday, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has granted more than £5 million to fund a major expansion of Police Now through investment from the Police Transformation Fund.

Police Now is a groundbreaking scheme aimed at giving university graduates with leadership potential a route to becoming police officers, so that they can make a difference in the fight against crime as well as supporting their communities.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

The job of police reform must continue and forces must better reflect the communities they serve. This successful bid by Police Now - originally the idea of 2 serving officers – is an example of the transformative thinking we want from our police.

The success of Police Now in diversifying our police forces and attracting the brightest and the best to join the police is precisely the kind of groundbreaking project that the Police Transformation Fund was set up to support.

Police Now began in 2015 with the Metropolitan Police Service pilot programme and since then it has expanded out to 7 forces this year. It will now expand again to meet growing demand with 250 places expected to be offered to candidates next year. There will be a network of regional headquarters across the UK and graduate places with up to 19 partner forces in 2017.

Set up as part of the spending review in 2015, the Police Transformation Fund, which is police-led through the Police Reform and Transformation Board, is designed to allocate extra investment to continue the job of reform and shape policing for the future. Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constable representatives sit on the board alongside senior leaders in policing, with the final decisions on bids made by the Home Secretary.

Detective Chief Inspector David Spencer, CEO, Police Now commented:

This investment will allow us to continue to grow the programme beyond our current 19 partner forces and continue on our mission to decrease crime and increase confidence in the police.

Minister for Policing and the Fire Service, Brandon Lewis, was also supportive, adding:

It was clear from my visit to open the Police Now Summer Academy a few months ago that this is an innovative scheme for attracting the best graduates from a wide range of backgrounds. I look forward to following Police Now’s progress as it expands in the coming year and welcome further bids from police forces to the transformation fund.