Primary school pupils earn badges in Dacorum Mini Police scheme

Pupils at two primary schools in Dacorum became the latest youngsters to successfully complete the constabulary’s Mini Police scheme.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

St Paul’s Primary School in Chipperfield and Broadfield Academy in Hemel Hempstead took part in the eight-week programme.

Mini Police is an opportunity for children aged between nine and 11 to learn about community safety, in a fun way which gives young people a voice.

It is also a means of engaging children within their communities, promoting responsible citizenship, helping to increase confidence and reduce perceived barriers.

NewsNews
News

The programme is delivered by Safer Neighbourhood Team officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), police cadet leaders, Children and Young People officers and volunteers.

This time round, the courses were led by Mini Police coordinator PCSO Daniel McManus, PCSO Bardhyl Agallili and PCSO Diane Pennington from the Hemel Hempstead Central Safer Neighbourhood Team.

The pupils learnt about topics including anti-social behaviour, cybercrime, road safety, hate crime and bullying.

Several interactive sessions were held where the youngsters were able to ask questions and during their ‘community week’, St Paul’s pupils visited local shops and businesses in Chipperfield village to distribute Mini Police posters about what they had learnt.

On Wednesday, November 27 the St Paul’s pupils were presented with certificates to mark their participation in the scheme. These were presented by chief inspector Paul Mitson.

They also had a visit from an officer who explained the role of the Police Support Unit, which consists of officers specially-trained to police riots and public order incidents.

For Broadfield Academy’s ‘community week’, their pupils went to Queens Square to deliver posters to the local shopkeepers to be displayed for the community and promote their Mini Police campaign.

On Monday, December 16, the Broadfield Academy pupils were presented with their certificates by Dacorum’s chief inspector Paul Mitson.

PCSO McManus said: “We were very impressed by the children’s keen interest – they are most definitely a very bright bunch. I think they had great fun becoming Mini Police and it was really rewarding to see their confidence and knowledge grow as the course progressed.

“While we are out on patrol we often hear people telling their children ‘if you misbehave, that officer will take you away’ but it’s so important for young children to know that we are here to help them and they can always come to us if they have a problem.

"We hope the children have enjoyed their time finding out more about what we do and we wish them a very merry Christmas with their families.”