The
police force has launched a new campaign to boost the number of female officers
entering the service by raising the profile of the job.
The
recruitment campaign, which also hopes to attract more ethnic minority
recruits, has been introduced to raise the overall number of women in the
force.
Currently,
only 19 per cent of police officers are women, while just 2.9 per cent come
from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Home
Office minister Hazel Blears said the campaign would encourage more women to
consider a career within the police force by highlighting the true nature of
policing in the UK.
"We
have one of the best and most highly-regarded police services in the world, yet
we need to encourage more women to see the force as a real career choice, where
they can excel and succeed," she said.
The
television advertisement features nursery school teacher Lisa Potts, who was
seriously injured while protecting her schoolchildren from a machete-wielding
attacker in 2001.
The
£5m campaign will also include radio and press advertising, as well as a re-run
of a previous commercial featuring boxing champion Lennox Lewis.
