22 hours Ago
Australian Police have launched a campaign in a bid to tempt disillusioned British coppers Down Under, as one crime fighting ex-pat says it was the 'best decision' he ever made. South Australian Police have decided to look beyond their own backyard, as they hope to attract over 200 experienced officers from the UK, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand. In a desperate bid to recruit Britain's best, the South Australia Police (SAPOL) Commissioner, Grant Stevens, featured in a hilarious campaign, which saw a media wall pulled away to show him wearing beach shorts on a sunny shore.
And now as the force prepares to tour the UK, holding information sessions in London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow in both April and May, to lure disenchanted officers away from British shores. It comes as some UK police constabularies are facing a staffing crisis, with almost a quarter of officers from Police Scotland eligible to retire by next summer, or are either on modified duties or off sick. Figures released last September, show of the force's 16,207 officers, 945 are approaching retirement, 656 are on long-term sick leave and 2,183 are on reduced duties, mostly because they are recovering from illness or injury.
But it's not only young Brits who are flocking Down Under in search of a better life, with nearly 50,000 arriving to the country on working holiday visas in 2024 alone - a former British police officer says its the 'best decision' he has ever made. Oliver Lamb, who traded Dorset's beaches for the sunny coast of Adelaide told Good Morning Britain: 'As soon as I had enough experience of being a police officer in the UK and South Australia police opened their door..
.I just had to look at the opportunity, and it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.' Oliver Lamb, an ex-British police officer, has encouraged his fellow countrymen and women to don the blue Down Under, branding it the 'best decision' he's ever made (pictured with fellow recruit Emma.
.. Shannon Mcguigan.
