Training

Cadet study

by Mark Rowe

In the July and August print issues of Professional Security magazine, our regular columnist Una Riley features the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cadet programme. In the UK, at the launch of the National Citizens in Policing Strategy, the National Volunteer Police Cadets (NVPC) and Middlesex University set out their plan to use the £1.8m grant from the Home Office Police Innovation Fund grant to support the expansion of Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC).

The funding will be used to develop a digital platform for registration, management and training. The research will evaluate the usefulness of the cadet scheme and monitor how it helps young develop and improve the way they feel about authority. The National VPC programme is recognised by both the National Police Chief Council and the Association of Police Crime Commissioners and is based on the following aims and underpinning principles:

promote a practical understanding of policing amongst all young people;
encourage a spirit of adventure and good citizenship;
support local policing priorities through volunteering and give young people a chance to be heard; and
inspire young people to participate positively in their communities.

Each cadet unit should:

engage with young people between 13 and 18 years;
have 25pc of their membership from a ‘vulnerable’ background;
support their cadets to volunteer three hours a month assisting in community and crime prevention events; and
have a body of cadets that represents the diversity of their Service Area.

There are 10,000 police cadets based in 400 units across almost all the police forces in the UK. The National VPC will work with local Police Forces to expand the number of young people involved to 20,000 by the end of 2018. The membership is 50pc split between boys and girls and 30pc from vulnerable backgrounds. Cadets volunteered over 300,000 hours of social action in support of their communities in the past 12 months.

Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) lead for Volunteer Police Cadets said: “The award of this grant is very significant for the VPC as it will facilitate the development of an infrastructure that will support the rapid expansion of the programme and the hard work being done by local leaders and their cadets.”

And at Middlesex University, lead researcher Jeffrey DeMarco said: “We’re very excited to be involved with this project. Young people can have difficult relationships with authority but becoming a cadet can improve community relations and prevent run-ins with the police.”

The research project is funded for two years.

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