The police and crime commissioner for Kent has slammed Metropolitan Police for trying to "poach" the county's best officers.

As part of major recruitment scheme the London force is offering £5,000 as a financial incentive to attract police officers to join them.

The crime commissioner has said the strategy is selfish

But Kent PCC Matthew Scott has labelled the strategy "selfish", and says it puts pressure on Kent Police to "fill the gap".

He said: "Because the Met Police and the Mayor of London are failing to meet their recruitment targets they're seeking to take officers from other police forces with the promise of a welcome bonus.

"I want police officers to be better paid and I've always campaigned for that, but this is a problem for us because they will take our experienced officers away at a time when we're trying to recruit more on the promise of a payment.

"It causes a number of risks and concerns around how we'll be able to get those numbers back in and ultimately it raises questions about oversight of the Metropolitan Police by the Mayor that they've been allowed to carry on with this problem.

"I'm working with MPs and we'll be lobbying to government to make sure that we have a level playing field.

He took to Twitter to vent his frustrations, saying the London force was trying to "selfishly poach" Kent Police's experienced and trained officers.

But the Met ignored his comments, instead claiming it was was taking "bold steps" to recruit a record number of officers in the next 10 months.

A spokesman for the London force explained how as of March they had 33,567 officers - with 9,400 joining in the past three years - which is the highest number it has ever had.

"It moves existing officers around and puts pressure on Kent to recruit more to fill the gap..."

It is now hoping to recruit 4,000 new officers by March next year.

A spokesman for the Met Police said: "As the recovery from Covid continues, we have seen the job market in London rebound and change quickly, with more job opportunities, fewer people looking for work and more of our officers choosing to retire.

"To help achieve our ambition for record growth during this time-limited period, we are offering a one-off cash bonus of £5,000 in addition to our existing package of benefits to encourage more people to become a police constable.

"In order to be more attractive to our experienced and skilled officers who have passed their usual point of retirement we are removing pension abatement, allowing them to receive their full pension and their monthly salary as they would if they had retired and started work in another organisation."

Director of resources, Clare Davies, added: “Our growth is helping us achieve positive results in driving down violent crime and bolstering our presence in town centres and in neighbourhoods across London.

“The additional measures we have introduced are all targeted at making the Met competitive in the London job market at a time when all police forces and a number of other sectors are recruiting.

“We will be doing everything we can whilst we have the funding to encourage the best of the best to join us. We will also continue to press hard for a fair pay award for all our officers so that we remain an attractive employer.”

The Met were asked to comment on PCC Matthew Scott's comments, but declined to do so.