A former soldier who swapped Afghanistan for policing in Nottinghamshire has taken centre stage in a national police recruitment campaign launched by the Home Office.

The campaign is aimed at encouraging more people to join the police as part of the Operation Uplift programme.

New adverts show policing’s central role in the community, featuring officers from a range of backgrounds.

PC Jamie Kamoto (pictured), who features in one of the television adverts created by the Home Office, has spoken of how a helpful police officer inspired him to join the police.

PC Kamoto said: “I would trace what made me want to join the police back to when I was about four or five years old.

“I’d been on a shopping trip with my mum and I had got lost. And I’m sort of wandering around town, crying. A woman came to help me and she grabbed a police officer who helped re-unite me with my mum.

“This was my first interaction with police officers and the initial spark that said, ‘I want to be part of this group of people that help people, serve the community and test people.’

“And when I got older, the McPherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence kind of spurred me on to join the service – to bridge the gap between certain communities where barriers still exist.”

As one of the faces of the new campaign, PC Kamoto will be featured on screen and in other promotional material.

“It was a good experience – something that I’ve never done before. I’ve never really done anything in front of the camera,” said PC Kamoto.

The 36-year-old previously served with the Royal Military Police, both in Germany and on tour in Afghanistan. Whilst deployed he was tasked with mentoring a number of Afghan National Policemen, an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.

Prior to joining the military Jamie also gained transferable skills as a support worker for adults with learning difficulties and also those struggling with ill mental health.

PC Kamoto added: “When I applied, I thought ‘I’m probably not going to get in’. It was quite a long process because you have the assessment centre and all the necessary pre-employment checks. But I’d say go for it- just try, because you never know.”

Nottinghamshire Police is ahead of schedule in its commitment to recruit 150 new police officers by March 2021. This is on top of the 282 officers who joined the force in the last financial year.

Superintendent Suk Verma, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I am delighted that we have got Nottinghamshire to be central within the Home Office’s national recruitment campaign.

“As a force, we have demonstrated our commitment to recruiting new officers and we are continuing to work tirelessly across multiple channels in order to demonstrate the incredible opportunities a career in policing provides.

“PC Kamoto and other Nottinghamshire Police officers did a brilliant job in the promotional materials, and clearly demonstrated the police’s role in our communities. This is why we were selected to play the starring role”

“It is also important to remember our force’s commitment to being a more representative police service.”

Nottinghamshire Police has seen an increase in the number of officers from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds (BAME), with 6.5% of the officers identifying as BAME.

Superintendent Verma has acknowledged that whilst there has been a positive change, there is still a huge amount of work still to be done.

He said: “It is great that we have since an increase in the number of officers joining the force from backgrounds where we have been significantly underrepresented in the past.

“The challenge moving forward is ensuring that we develop and maintain an organisational culture that supports difference, so that the hard work we have done in attraction is maintained. This is very much key to the retention and progression strategy.

“The importance of having a police service that reflects the communities it serves cannot be understated and we are committed to ensuring that the public we serve feels as though their force represents them.”

Anyone interested in applying to their local force can search ‘Join the Police’ to find out more.