Volunteer Cadets

Expansion of the Volunteer Police Cadets

The Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) started in London in 1988 after the original employed MPS cadets ended. There is now a VPC Unit on every borough and it is a central component of the Metropolitan Police’s youth outreach. We intend to grow this number to 4000 by 2012. This includes referrals from agencies, including Youth Offending Teams and those working with youths from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. This concept began several years ago in Westminster and 25% of their Unit is now made up of such referrals with 83% of its members from BME backgrounds.

The success of the VPC is based on research over a number of years which identifies what is effective in working with young people from a wide range of backgrounds including those at risk of offending. This research suggests the following four principles which are core to how the VPC works. The success of the VPC is based on research over a number of years which identifies what is effective in working with young people from a wide range of backgrounds including those at risk of offending. This research suggests the following four principles which are core to how the VPC works.

• Developing ‘Social Citizens’ using the latest ideas in Pro Social Modelling
• Creating a warm, supportive and enthusiastic youth community with a welcoming approach
• Providing effective peer, leader and role model guidance using proven techniques
• Inspiring community involvement using restorative problem solving approaches

By linking with other MPS youth engagement projects such as MetTrack, together with greater links to the Prince’s Trust we aim to identify and actively engage with young people from all walks of life who are at risk from crime and social exclusion. All members of the VPC have the opportunity to gain Duke of Edinburgh Awards, along with accredited skills and learning across a wide range of activities, thereby providing them with greater opportunities to obtain education employment and training.

The VPC provided 50,000 hours of volunteering time during 2010 in support of the communities served by the MPS in such activities as:

• Local Crime Prevention initiatives including Leaflet Deliveries and phone marking
• Stewarding at events
• 'Mystery Shopper' operations to detect underage sales of fireworks, alcohol and knives
• Large high profile events such as the London Marathon, Trooping the Colour, Remembrance Sunday

It is our intention to develop this volunteering to utilise the VPC in running the Police Junior Citizen and Summer Schemes while developing their skills to deliver support programmes to other young people –such as coaching, expeditions and peer mentoring. We will call on the experiences of our 4000 cadets to enable us to build a better understanding of the views of young people in London.

This new approach to the VPC is gaining prominence and has been mentioned in two recent high profile reports.

' Dying to Belong ' an in-depth review of Street Gangs in Britain - The Centre for Social Justice

' All secondary Schools and colleges in Gang Prevention Zones should either have a Volunteer Police Cadet programme or be affiliated to one nearby …’

Volunteering in the Criminal Justice System

Baroness Neuberger's review as the Government's Volunteering Champion.

…volunteering can raise awareness of good citizenship, provide diversion and prevent young people from turning to crime, for many of the same reasons that it can rehabilitate existing offenders…the Met Cadet Force case study indicate that volunteering can divert young people away from crime…

Cadet B is a first generation asylum seeker who quickly fell into a group who regularly shoplifted and were involved in petty crime. She was referred by Youth Offending Team and after being disruptive initially, gradually responded. On summer camp she said to staff:

She said that the pride and discipline provided by membership of the VPC and the challenging activities had diverted her from crime but also had enabled her to feel part of the community, developing her pride in being ‘British’.