KEY POINTS:
Former UK police officers on the beat in New Zealand are being enticed home with the promise of £10,000 pounds(NZ$27,000) and an ad campaign to appeal to their nostalgia.
The Leicestershire police force has begun a recruitment drive appealing to officers' memories of English tea, Marks & Spencer
underwear and even British accents.
Chief Superintendent Geoff Feavyour said the Leicestershire police force were only looking for 15 police officers and with media coverage in the UK and Australia, there had already been nine expressions of interest.
There had been 330 former UK cops recruited to the New Zealand police force since July 2006, according to New Zealand police figures.
Mr Feavyour said the Leicestershire police force was relatively small with 2000 officers but would be growing by 100 this year to deal with gangs and child abuse investigations.
He said it would be possible to fill the positions with young recruits but they would be "brand new kids on the block" and the force wanted a mix of experience and youth.
Mr Feavyour said Leicestershire had attracted police officers from around Britain but had also decided to appeal to former UK officers working in New Zealand and Australia.
"We're thinking we've got a potential market of 1000 ex-UK police officers out there in Australia and New Zealand," he said.
The ad campaign, that has been run in Adelaide, uses the English weather among other things to entice British police back.
"That's only because I'm pretty odd and I really don't like hot weather," Mr Feavyour said.
"Some of us are very pasty looking and can't spend too much time in the sun," he said.
Mr Feavyour said in Australia there had been a "bit of a whinging Poms go home" angle to some of the reporting but others have offered to keep the UK cops and send the Aussies instead.
He said the ad campaign is "tongue in cheek".
New Zealand police marketing manager for recruitment James Whittaker said there were no plans to hit back with a similar New Zealand campaign in the UK.
He said the New Zealand police were not concerned by the Leicestershire recruitment drive.
"The [UK] cops I've spoken to weren't even aware of it. But it's indicative of the recruitment market place," Mr Whittaker said.
He said the police had not had to entice UK recruits with money or any other sweetener and the only costs to police of recruiting in the UK had been to send out some examiners.
He said UK cops interested in joining the New Zealand police had to go through an academic and physical test, the same as New Zealand recruits.