Scotland Yard staff have been invited to write a poem focusing on the "gender agenda" to celebrate international women's day, in a move described as cringeworthy by a leading police blogger.
The competition, open to all Met police staff, is the brainchild of the force's director of diversity Denise Milani.
In the internal communication, published online, she invited "officers and staff to get creative and put their observations and comments into verse."
The lucky winner will discuss gender over "elevenses" with Milani. According to the internal memo:
Poems must fit onto one side of A4, must be no more than 30 lines in length and must:
1. Focus on one of the following themes:
· Recruitment, retention or progression in the MPS
· Creating a gender sensitive working environment
· Successfully managing gender diverse teams.
2. Provide Denise Milani with insight on the progress made with the ‘Gender Agenda’ from either a male or female perspective.
3. Provide a positive future vision for the MPS.
Only one entry per person may be submitted. By submitting an entry, permission is given to the MPS to publish the author’s poem.
"I particularly like reading internal communications like this when I have just come in from a 10 hour marathon shift during which the local drunken yobs have been trying to give us a good kicking, or if we have been dealing with a fatal road crash."
A Met police spokesperson said: "In support of international women's day staff are being encouraged to feed back on the work of the Metropolitan Police Service as undertaken over a number of years on gender.
"Using the format of poetry staff are invited in their own time to provide views on key areas of our strategic agenda."
Milani had previously attracted controversy for telling police to celebrate the first ever Gipsy Roma Traveller History Month.