How we helped to double female police applications using geo-fencing

Over the last few years, the government has pledged to provide an extra 20,000 police officers on the streets across the UK.

The Problem

In January, one of the smaller UK police constabularies was expecting to take on 30 new student officers which then went up to an astonishing 230. With a modest total workforce, the need for an extra 200+ officers was a big ask. Plus, being one of the smaller forces meant that they had a relatively small HR team. The resource simply wasn’t there for the tall order that was being asked of them in terms of recruitment.

The area that they police has proven to be a difficult area to find people that want to be police officers. So the force had to try and find people outside of their catchment area. They also had to be mindful of competing with other forces, too, so they had to be tactful with their approach.

The Solution

They approached crooton because of the geo-fencing technology they could offer; a digital campaign enabled them to be more targeted with their messaging through specific devices which was a key reason the force wanted to work with crooton.

Plus, having such a small area to work with in regards to location as well, it’s always been difficult to attract a diverse range of applicants. By working with crooton, the technology has enabled them to do this as over the summer period, the force saw a huge number of applications in regards to diversity.

The Results

Before working with crooton, female applications were heavily down but since May 2022, their female applicants ranged from 35%-46% of all applications each week, which is significant not just for the particular organisation, but nationally. 

Additionally, they saw a huge rise in diverse applicants with 47% of applications received as part of this category.

Direct results from the crooton display campaign were seen when other recruitment activity was paused. The force were able to attribute direct success when they saw a huge spike in female applicants which were 90% of applications during a period of time.

Overall, crooton were able to help increase applications on a steady trajectory over the campaign time frame. Prior to the campaign starting, the force saw around 25 applications per week. Once launched in conjunction with their other attraction methods, they saw the following numbers for applications:

Week 1: 35

Week 2: 40

Week 3: 57

Week 4: 104

Week 5: 90

Week 6: 100

What the police thought

“It’s been great working with the team at crooton – nothing has been too much trouble. We have a weekly catch up that works really well, where the team are able to give me analytics data, engagement rates of the previous week etc.”

“The team is always at the end of the phone which is great. But, essentially, because of how the service works, we don’t really need too much contact from them. It’s a big plus to have a service provider where you don’t need to have a lot of contact and you can just let them bring you the results you need!”

Please call us today to find out about our rates and prices or to get a bespoke quote based on your specific requirements and let us help you calculate how much you could save working if you were to work with us. At crooton, we specialise in helping people just like you build diverse and inclusive teams. Contact us today to see how easy it can be to create your ideal, diverse workforce with crooton.