A NEW degree course has been launched at Oxford Brookes University to train the next generation of Thames Valley Police officers.

But the Thames Valley Police Federation last night warned the new two-year degree should not replace existing internal training as a cost-cutting measure.

Thames Valley Police said it plans to recruit a “significant percentage of its future police officers” from the course, which will also be available at Bucks New University and the University of Northampton.

The force would not be drawn on the exact percentage they hope to recruit, but others estimated between 20 and 50 per cent of new officers could join the force through the foundation degree.

Federation secretary Andy Viney said a new route into the force would increase diversity. He said: “From our perspective we welcome recruitment from any source in society. For us this would be about actually obtaining recruits that we have not tapped into before.”

But he added: “What you have got to see is the overview of this, this is getting the individual and the university to pay for training.”

The new course which will start in September next year is one of the first of its kind, with only the University of Central Lancashire and De Montfort University offering a similar vocational police degree.

Currently the only route into the force is by completing a 36-week police training course at Sulhamstead House, taught and administrated by Thames Valley Police.

Meanwhile, recruits at Sulhamstead House are paid a salary of £23,259 per annum.

Students on the Oxford Brookes course will pay fees of between £6,000 and £9,000 a year and will carry out on-the-job training as special constables.

At the end of their degree graduates will be able to apply to join the force although they will have no guarantee of a job.

If successful they will start their careers as Pcs fit for independent patrol, which those joining via the traditional route become on completion of 30 weeks of training.

Mr Viney added: “We will have officers going into the force with the burden of student debt, but then it will be six or seven years before they start to pay that back. What we wouldn’t want to see is this being the only route or the major route into the police because we have to be reflective of our community.”

Training design manager Don Oldcorn, of Thames Valley Police, said: “We are working towards a mixed economy of police recruiting. It’s about achieving a balance so that there are multiple routes of entry through which we will attract a mixed workforce.”

Dr Agnes Hibbert, of Oxford Brookes, who helped develop the course with the police said two years of development would make “more confident” police officers and added: “At last there’s this one training with which they can move around the country.”

Richard Huggins, of Oxford Brookes, said: “This foundation degree helps achieve consistency of training for the role of special constable as it is a nationally recognised qualification. After the two year course there is an opportunity to top up the FD to an honours degree.”

This will mean that graduates can apply to join other forces across the country too.