Birmingham, Leicester and Manchester will be visited by officers from the London service which offers a �26,000 starting salary, free rail travel within 70 miles and promotion opportunities.

The Met is attempting to fill 7.9% of its posts with officers from ethnic minorities, currently it employs 25,550 officers, of which 5% are black or Asian.

The Met's assistant commissioner of human resources Bernard Hogan-Howe said they wanted to make the Met more representative of London's communities.

It is our experience that the majority of West Midlands people opting for a police career will initially choose their local force

West Midlands police spokesman

"We need more police officers from all minority communities.

"We are determined to succeed.

"We have set challenging targets which means we have to come up with more new and imaginative ways to attract people to a career with the Met," he said.

Earlier this year it announced it would start recruiting abroad to boost recruitment.

The government has said that 25% of the Met's workforce should come from ethnic minorities by 2010, to reflect London's population.

'Considerable upheaval'

But West Midlands Police believe residents of Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton would not be easily persuaded to move to London.

A force spokesman said: "West Midlands Police is running a very successful series of campaigns to meet the force's recruitment targets.

"It is our experience that the majority of West Midlands people opting for a police career will initially choose their local force, rather than undertake the considerable personal upheaval of relocating to another area such as London."

Interviews and written tests for visitors interested in a police career will also be available at the road show.