It was revealed recently that the force was looking to boost officer numbers from 190 to 215 in response to concerns that they had become under-staffed.
During a Scrutiny hearing with the Education and Home Affairs panel, acting deputy chief officer James Wileman said that the force had been ‘inundated with responses’ since opening its recruitment process.
He confirmed that more than 120 applications had been made so far and the force was now going through a selection process to find the right candidates.
‘We have gone through a process and managed to get the number of people down to about 80,’ he said.
‘We are about to go through the candidates now with a view to getting that down to 40 individuals, who will then go through an extended process. We have had a very good standard of application.’
The application window to join the force closed earlier this month.
Deputy Rowland Huelin asked whether any of the potential candidates might be interested in joining the honorary police.
Acting DCO Wileman said that he believed they would and that a good proportion of officers had started their careers in that manner.
The hearing was also attended by Home Affairs Minister Len Norman and panel members Deputies Rob Ward and Trevor Pointon.
