Our thanks to Mike P for this. The start of the piece:
Female leads in popular crime drama series on television has encouraged a surge in women signing up to become detectives with Britain’s largest police force.
More women than men have signed up to Scotland Yard’s fast track scheme, even though they make up around a third of normal applications.
Shows like The Fall, starring Gillian Anderson as DSI Stella Gibson, have been credited with the increasing numbers of women applying.
The Met has faced a detective recruitment crisis, with a shortage of investigators in CID units, so announced last year it was to become the first in the UK to try the scheme, which means they are not required to do two years in uniform on the beat. [J4MB emphasis]
How do you get more women into any line of work? Easy. Make the position seem glamorous, lower the entrance requirements, offer flexible working… Mike writes:
What will the women who become detectives do when they find out the work isn’t like a TV programme – sue the Met, blame men, or both?
