Scotland Yard launches drive for bilingual recruits

Scotland Yard is launching a drive to recruit more officers who speak a second language in an effort to increase confidence in police among London's minority communities.

The Met wants officers able to speak and understand 14 languages which are widely used across the capital.

The languages which will feature in the month-long pilot campaign which starts today are: Yoruba (Nigeria), Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Italian, German, Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Sinhala (Sri Lanka) and Bengali. Met commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: “We know that almost 300 languages are spoken in the capital. We need to recruit and deploy officers with second languages in areas where those languages are spoken.

“I believe it will help boost confidence, help to solve crime more effectively and support victims and witnesses.”

Clare Davies, the head of human resources for the Met, said: “These officers will be deployed into the community as the first line of contact with victims and witnesses, in areas where we believe it will make a difference.”