THAMES Valley Police are looking for a bit of steel in their new recruits literally.

The force has launched a recruitment campaign to persuade redundant Welsh steel workers to become bobbies on the beat.

Its director of personnel and finance, Terri Teasdale, told a meeting of the police authority on Friday: "We are actually recruiting in South Wales because of the redundancies in the steel industry down there. We put up notices in the unemployment offices and got replies immediately."

She said Thames Valley Police had taken a roadshow to Swansea which attracted 200 visitors. The force recruited 244 officers between March 2000 and January this year, while 245 left for reasons including retirement and transfers.

Police authority chairman Glenn Maybury hoped the introduction of a £2,000 living allowance would encourage those put off by the cost of living.

Francis Robinson, a police authority member for 18 years, said: "I am sure there are some very hard-working people down in Wales and if they haven't got jobs they will be looking to get work elsewhere.

"I don't think dialect would be a problem, in fact it might be rather an advantage to have a Welsh-speaking chap. In Princes Risborough we had a Frenchman who spoke English so if we had a lost tourist he could always help them out."