Guernsey Police release new recruitment video

The 55-second video includes footage of an officer giving CPR on St Julian’s Avenue, helping lost children, pulling a woman up the cliffs, and arresting a suspected drink-driver.

The footage is taken from incidents in 2022 and 2023, as well as earlier this year.

In the first three hours of posting there were 60 reactions to the video on Facebook – all of them positive.

Guernsey Police said they were aiming to give insight into what they do, using real body-worn video footage.

‘We wanted to highlight the breadth of police work and show things which people won’t assume officers do on a day-to-day basis, when all of the kinds of incidents shown are representative of regular police activity,’ a spokesman said.

Members of the public featured in the video have been anonymised through blurring, though people who would have been able to recognise themselves were contacted and have consented for their clips to be used.

The police famously released a different recruitment video in 2020, showing explosions and a car chase, which attracted national media attention and was mocked on Have I Got News For You.

A follow-up video a year later gave a much calmer view of the various roles available in policing.

Police have struggled with recruitment in recent times.

The latest annual report – for 2023 – said it had 139 officers, with 17 officers leaving and 19 recruited over the previous year.

Then-head of Law Enforcement Ruari Hardy had said then that they had failed to reach minimum operating numbers.

Candidates for the job need integrity, good communication and problem-solving skills and have willingness to adapt to change.

The salary ranges from £38,877 to £54,445 a year.

Successful applicants would start 10 weeks of full-time training early next year, before two years of probation on response shifts.