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Officers from Loughton Community Policing Team (CPT) spoke to hundreds of students at New City College to give them advice about staying safe as the new term gets underway.
As young people make the transition from school to college, many will enjoy a greater degree of freedom, more active social lives and form new relationships.
The CPT officers want the students to feel confident they can approach the police to report incidents and also recognise what inappropriate behaviour looks like.
Leaflets, mirrors and stickers were handed out to publicise our #Reflect campaign which looks to break cycles of domestic abuse and reduce violence against women and girls.
The students were also given anti-spiking caps for bottles and glasses, and information to raise awareness about hate crime.
Alongside the CPT, members of our Firearms team gave the students an insight into their roles and the equipment they carry. They were also joined by our partners from Essex Fire and Rescue, the Safer Essex Roads Partnership, and officers from Epping Forest Council’s anti-social behaviour team.
PC Liam Macdonald of Loughton CPT said that it is essential for the team to reach out to young people and show them that officers are there to help them if they have any issues:
“We really enjoy talking to the students as it helps to dispel any myths they have about the police. The students have all been really friendly and they’ve had fun with the equipment we’ve had on show.
“We are there to protect people and catch criminals and we want the students to know we are here to help them and they can approach us. They travel into the college from a lot of different areas and when they’re here we want them to feel safe.
“By having strong links with the college, we hope it will potentially reduce drug-related incidents, anti-social behaviour and theft in the local area.”
Dayna Henderson, the college’s pastoral lead, said:
“Young people often aren’t confident enough to approach the public services for advice so we feel it’s important to provide that engagement and help them build that confidence to start a conversation.
“They always leave saying they’ve had a really good time and found out lots of information.
“All the emergency services are here for us and it’s great to see everyone interacting. It opens the students’ minds to think, ‘Maybe I could work for the police or the fire brigade.’ It’s amazing to see their eyes open to the possibilities.”
At Essex Police, we value difference. We know we’re strongest when we work together. And we want a workforce that represents our communities.
If you share our values and want to help people, keep people safe and catch criminals, then join us as a police officer, member of staff, special constable or volunteer.
Find out if you #FitTheBill by visiting our careers page.