LANCASHIRE Constabulary is backing the first ever national police recruitment campaign launched by the Home Office this week.

The force was granted permission to take on vital new staff yesterday (Wednesday) as part of Home Secretary Jack Straw's plan to recruit an extra 226 officers across the county over the next three years.

It comes on top of the constabulary's existing recruitment campaign to encourage more police applicants from ethnic minorities.

Last year, following the Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry, the Lancashire force was set tough targets to increase ethnic minority staff from 39 to 165 over the next ten years.

Since the start of the campaign in May, the force has recruited two ethnic minority police officers, with several others already in the advance stages of the police selection process. Nationally, it is hoped that the new campaign will provide forces in England and Wales with high quality recruits to help fill more than 9,000 extra vacancies.

And the Lancashire force is aiming to recruit the best staff from across all sections of the community including ethnic minorities and women aged between 23 and 33. Anybody interested in joining the force should look on line at www.policecouldyou.co.uk or call the applicants hotline on 0845 608 3000, where they will be asked some basic questions.

Those who are successful will then be sent an 'expression of interest' form which will then be dispatched to the relevant force where it will be processed.

The campaign has two planned phases -- one from the end of August until the end of September will concentrate on press and television coverage.

The second will run throughout October and concentrate on radio and cinema advertisements.