We've got a lot in common with cougars: Kiwi police's hiring ad says

Wellington, Jan 7 (ANI): The New Zealand Police have launched a campaign to hire school leavers and under-25s, with their ads saying we like 'em young.

Some of the ads read: "We've got a lot in common with cougars. We like 'em young", "Get paid more than your dad", "We endorse queue cutting".

The ads, which also refer to teen singing sensation Justin Bieber, will run on websites, radio and on poster boards at holiday hotspots.

Police recruitment marketing manager James Whitaker said if current recruitment and attrition trends continued, a quarter of all officers would be 50 or older by 2019, compared with 6.9 percent in 2000.

"This may have a serious impact on the numbers who are able - or willing - to act in 24/7 frontline response roles," the New Zealand Herald quoted him as saying.

"More specifically, we're aiming to attract intelligent, balanced, non-judgmental young people, and using a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour is a sound way to engage people in our target group who are able to read the fine print and find the key point in a message of that nature," he stated.

Whitaker said the ads also aimed to address the myths that police did not want to employ young people, that officers were not paid well and that candidates had to wait before being called up for police college. (ANI)