POLICE bosses are offering officers a month’s supply of free chocolate in a new incentive scheme.

An MP has criticised the ‘staggering’ offer which he said amounted to ‘bribery’.

But police chiefs heralded the scheme as a success for getting people talking about the new policing pledge.

Posters, featuring a doctored Cadbury’s Wispa bar, have gone up in police stations across Lancashire promoting the offer.

They are designed to encourage officers to read the details of the new Government-led pledge on a intranet site, which sets out the force’s promises to the public.

It says: “Give us a taste of what the pledge means to you and win a month’s supply of chocolate!”

Those who take part are asked to read the 10 points contained in the pledge and then answer questions on the internal staff website.

The winner takes a chocolate bar of their choice a day for a month.

The offer has split opinion in Lancashire police stations, with some praising it and others labelling it childish.

Debate has been raging on a police blogging website.

One officer wrote: “If you want to bribe people into reading the policing pledge then you should not be offering chocolate.”

Another queried the cost and time of putting up the posters, while a third wrote: “I'm sick and tired of seeing these damn chocolate bars all over the police station.”

But another posting, claiming to be from the department behind the plan, said the campaign had worked because it got staff talking and denied it was ‘childish and unprofessional’.

It added: “We often get criticised for churning out the same old corporate stuff from HQ, so when we stray away from the norm to try and get some attention on an issue that is vitally important for the force.

"I am disappointed that some people can't support this approach.”

In a statement to the Lancashire Telegraph, a force spokesman said: “Police officers and staff have to take in vast amounts of information all the time so we wanted to create a campaign that was designed to be quirky, light-hearted and easy to digest which is why the chocolate theme was chosen.

“The campaign is aimed at getting staff talking about the pledge within the constabulary and logging onto our intranet site to find out more and plenty of people have.

“It’s a shame that a very small number of people have chosen to look superficially at the campaign instead of finding out more about the Pledge itself as we take the commitment we have to the public of Lancashire very seriously.”

The policing pledge, which sets national standards, was drawn up by the Home Office and came into force in Lancashire on December 31.

It includes promises to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds, treat people fairly with dignity and respect and keep victims of crime updated with their case.

Ribble Valley Conservative MP Nigel Evans said: “This is staggering.

"These are things you would think police ought to be doing anyway, not be bribed to do it.

“It shows an odd sense of priorities. What’s contained within the charter is basically the conduct you would expect from a police officer.

"Knowing police officers as I do, I would think they would be quite embarrassed that a top cheese thinks they need chocolate to do their job.”

John O’Reilly, of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said: “It’s actually gone down very well.

“We have had a big response to the survey. The pledge is one thing all officers should know about and this is one way of making sure they’ve read it.”

Coun David Whipp, who sits on the police authority, said: “I never cease to be surprised by the various ways that these organisations operate.

“But it’s a quirky way of drawing attention to something.”