Mersey police vet 400 as ‘unsuitable’

Nov 13 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

MORE than 400 people who applied to work in Merseyside Police in the past three years were rejected as unsuitable candidates.

A total of 436 job applications were turned down during the vetting stage from April 2004 to March 2007, figures obtained by the Liverpool Daily Post show.

In the past three years, 150 people were turned down following vetting after applying to become a police officer or special constable.

The total number of people vetted out from civilian staff jobs was 286, but the force was unable to provide details prior to April 2005 because of the way information was collected.

Police said that the vast majority of those rejected at the vetting out stage were likely to have been turned away because of suspected criminal links.

However, to conclusively say so the force would have to examine each submission and the volume of records to be checked would exceed the time limits set down by the Freedom of Information Act, under which the information was released.

Applicants who have previous cautions or convictions are normally vetted out, but police said each case is judged on its merits.

The financial position of applicants and their sickness levels are also taken into account at the vetting stage, and those with county court judgements are automatically rejected.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: “Merseyside Police expects the highest standards of integrity from its officers and support staff and this is why a rigorous vetting procedure is necessary. Not only are the candidates vetted, but also close family members, their partners and their partners’ immediate family.

“These checks are necessary to ensure neither the force or any potential employee is in any way compromised due to their background or family connections.”

Graham Johnson, an investigative journalist who has written a number of books on Merseyside’s gangs, said: “The police have got to be vigilant and have clearly got to vet because of the potential threat of infiltration by criminal gangs.”

Mr Johnson, whose latest book, The Devil, examines the life of career criminal and Liverpool gangster Stephen French, believes Merseyside gangs could conceive plans to infiltrate the police.

But Merseyside Police said there was no evidence of the force being targeted in such a way.

The spokesman added: “Our vetting procedures have been in place for some time and the force does not believe there is any correlation between vetting and the number of people applying for police officer positions.”

davidbartlett@dailypost.co.uk