Guernsey Police 'Hot Fuzz' campaign attracts 39 applications

A Guernsey Police recruitment campaign featuring a video ridiculed for resembling comedy film Hot Fuzz has received 39 applicants.

The film portrayed a "usual week" for an island officer, featuring armed raids and car chases.

Described as "awful", "embarrassing" and "shockingly unaware", it was deleted two days after being posted on social media.

Guernsey Police declined to comment on how the video impacted on recruitment.

The 39 applications were the most the force has had in five years, figures provided under Guernsey's Access to Information Code show.

The number of applicants has risen steadily in recent years, up from 18 in 2016.

The 2020 campaign resulted in 10 recruits, the largest intake "for many years", Guernsey's head of law enforcement, Ruari Hardy, said.

The 'Hot Fuzz' film involved 21 officers, who each spent between 20 minutes and three hours taking part in the production.

The force was unable to quantify the staffing costs associated with the film and fallout and said: "There was no direct cost responding to the issues that emerged after its publication, other than staff time."

A production company was involved in making the film, estimated to have cost £5,000.

A civil servant also spent three days "supporting the production company making the film", police added.

In August, Mr Hardy said he had "listened to the community" and decided to remove the video from Facebook.

Much of the criticism centred on it being an unrealistic depiction of policing in the relatively crime-free island.

Last year 226 incidents resulted in criminal charges, mostly drug offences, theft and criminal damage.

In 2019 a weapon was fired once during 77 deployments of firearms teams.