CHESHIRE Constabulary spent almost £20,000 on a promotional video for the force.
The force created the promotional video as part of the Government's Uplift Programme, which sought to recruit 20,000 new officers across the country.
As part of this initiative, Cheshire Police needed to recruit an additional 600 officers between 2020-22 to hit its target for the programme - according to a Freedom of Information request, the number of officers recruited by Cheshire Police between March 2020 and '22 was 178.
The programme was launched in September 2019, but recruitment processes were forced to adapt during the Covid pandemic, which forced the country into lockdown in March 2020.
Cheshire Police's target of 600 new officers was to be achieved between 2020 and 2022 - which is a recruitment of around 17 new officers per month for each year.
According to data revealed online, the force did not hit this target.
In years gone by, the force has relied on face-to-face recruitment to bring in fresh faces to the constabulary, but lockdowns made this impossible.
Cheshire Police decided to commission a recruitment/promotional video, to the tune of almost £20,000.
The video was created, and the police forked out £18,425 for the service - this figure was revealed by a Freedom of Information request made to Cheshire Constabulary.
Head of resourcing and talent management at Cheshire Police, Kate McStein, said: "We are committed to doing all we can to attract the best potential candidates to serve the public of Cheshire.
"When procuring the video, quotes were sourced from three separate agencies and the supplier used represented the best value for the people of Cheshire.
"The cost covered community-based research which provided us with valuable information regarding career motivators and insight that helped us shape the video and future approaches to how the force developed its recruitment campaigns.
"It also included the costs such as filming, music license fees and the production of multiple versions of the video that we were able to use on various digital platforms.
The talent management lead added: "The video has provided us with resources that have been able to be used for social media campaigns, recruitment seminars, workshops and training.
"Feedback from candidates applying to Cheshire has been really positive and we are really pleased to have such a professional resource in attracting the best applicants who have resonated with the mission and values of the force."
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