Mini Police from Mansfield team up with trainee PCs in control room demo

The team of 14 children from High Oakham Primary School, Nottingham Road, Mansfield, visited Nottinghamshire Police’s headquarters and were treated to a tour of the force’s control room, watched call handlers respond to emergency calls and heard about what their job entails.

Then they visited the training school to work with a group of trainee constables.

Partnering up with an officer, the mini police then got the opportunity to ask them questions and try on some of their uniform and helmets, before listening to a staged voice recording of an incident being reported to the control room.

The group got to work alongside the trainee PCs taking notes and learning more about how calls are dealt with.

Mini police is a scheme, launched in 2021, designed to give young children the opportunity to learn about their safety, their role within their community and how the police work to keep them safe.

Barbs Strang, from Nottinghamshire Police’s Citizens in Policing department, who arranged the visit, said: “Teaming the children up with some of our trainee PCs was great not only for the kids but for our trainees too.

“They got the chance to ask questions and get to interact with the trainees who reinforced we’re friendly and here to help.

"It’s also great to see the trainee PCs interact with the school children and get to put the skills they’ve learned in training into action.

“It’s important that we do different activities with students to show them exactly what police officers do as a job and build that trust and confidence in the police from an early age.

“The students all commented on how smiley and welcoming every police officer they met was, something they had not expected.”