NEARLY 500 budding police officers have shown an interest in joining the Cheshire Constabulary, according to the Home Office, after a successful recruitment campaign.

Early indications from the first wave of the three year police campaign, which was launched four months ago, show that there were up to 57,000 responses nationwide.

From this total, there were 14,883 expressions of interest in joining the police, which were passed on to police forces including the Cheshire Constabulary.

A further breakdown of the figures revealed that a quarter of those interested were female, four per cent were from minority, ethnic backgrounds and 46 per cent were aged between 18 to 24, and 46 per cent were aged between 25 and 35.

Cheshire Constabulary received a total of 486 expressions of interest from the national campaign.

The Chief Constable of Cheshire, Nigel Burgess, said: "Today's figures show that policing as a career is highly regarded in the North West - and in Cheshire in particular.

"Remarkably, more than 20 per cent of potential new recruits have expressed a desire to work for one of the North West police forces.

"Our reputation for looking after staff, and in particular providing them with high levels of training and varied career opportunities, is obviously getting through to a new generation of young men and women.

"This is a vote of confidence from people who believe that as new-comers to the police service they can play an important part in making their communities safe."

According to Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien, for the first time in many years the number of officers recruited into the service has exceeded those leaving.

He added: "Early indications from Cheshire are that this campaign is proving extremely successful in encouraging people to consider the police as a career option."