Age 16-18
Public Services students had the opportunity to work for a week with Essex Police, helping out on a special operation to reduce knife and other weapon offences in the local area.
The students joined community policing officers on house to house calls where residents were informed about the change in legislation regarding possession of weapons. They also assisted with searches of parks and rail stations along with dog units to try to find any hidden weapons that had been discarded.
The Uniformed Public Services course is run at New City College Epping Forest campus in Loughton, at Havering Sixth Form in Hornchurch and at Hackney campus in Hoxton.
Students from the Epping Forest campus took part in the work experience. One of the officers involved in the project said: “It was a great collaborative operation. The students were engaging and enthusiastic and many of them said how good it was to see first-hand what community police work is like.
“They helped conduct house to house calls where officers spoke to residents about the new legislation and they handed over leaflets explaining the changes.
“They also helped use metal detectors to carry out searches and sweeps of designated areas to locate any discarded or hidden weapons.
“It was a very successful week which included visits to our partner agencies, such as the civic offices and the national police air service.”
The students agreed that having the opportunity to work alongside officers on a one-to-one basis gave them a fantastic insight into the role and they were able to ask questions about the different aspects of joining one of the uniformed public services.
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