A BRADFORD councillor has asked if West Yorkshire has seen an exodus of police officers looking to "escape the Met" and jokingly questioned whether such recruits were what the county needed.

She was referring to the beleaguered Metropolitan Police, the police force for the London area that has been embroiled in numerous high profile scandals in recent years.

Councillor Sinead Engel (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) asked if West Yorkshire Police had received applications from officers looking to leave the London force, before smiling and adding: “If so, do we want them?”

West Yorkshire’s police and Crime Panel was discussing recruitment at a meeting on Friday when the issue was raised.

And during the discussion, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin was asked if documentaries like Bradford on Duty helped or hindered recruitment to the force.

The panel, made up of councillors from across West Yorkshire, meets regularly to scrutinise the work of Deputy Mayor of West Yorkshire Alison Lowe, who has powers over local policing.

When discussing recruitment to the force, Cllr Engel said: “Are we attracting people from other forces? I’ve heard that some officers have moved to become part of a good police service rather than a failing one. Are we getting applications from officers looking to escape the Met?

“And if so, do we want them?”

She was referring to the beleaguered Metropolitan Police, the police force for the London area that has been embroiled in numerous high profile scandals in recent years.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “We want all good police officers.”

Cllr Engel added: “I’m curious to know if programmes like Bradford on Duty are having a positive impact on recruiting police officers, or if they are having the opposite effect.

“They show what it is like on the streets of an area like Bradford.”

Ms Brabin said: “I really enjoyed watching it. It was warts and all and sometimes you think ‘oooh no, why have they said that?’

“But it is about the human condition. I can’t tell you how proud I was watching those emergency service workers. I think they do an amazing job, and I’d hope that would be a good recruitment tool, because it would show that you do make a difference.”

Referring to Cllr Engel’s question about police from other forces coming to West Yorkshire, she confirmed that was the case, and there were a number of new recruits coming from Greater Manchester Police.

Addressing her concerns about the type of recruits, she added: “The police force will always reflect the people they serve, so there will always be people you wouldn’t want in your organisation. But I’d hope that with our scrutiny and your scrutiny anyone not fit to be a police officer is out of this force because they are not wanted.”