£1.8m grant to double number of Volunteer Police Cadets by 2018
A government-funded digital platform is gearing up to deal with an explosion in the police cadet ranks over the next two years.
Jul 21, 2016
By Nick Hudson
A government-funded digital platform is gearing up to deal with an explosion in the police cadet ranks over the next two years.
The £1.8 million gift-wrapped award from the Home Office Police Innovation Fund will help support the doubling of national numbers to 20,000 by 2018.
It will be used to develop the rapid expansion of the Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) programme across the UK.
Funding will deliver online adult training, pump-priming grants for new units and a body of evidence-based research into the benefits of the VPC scheme.
Ed Sherry, the National VPC programme director, offered forces and police and crime commissioners at the Citizens in Policing summit “access to grants” to expand police cadet membership to 20,000.
He told the Manchester event on Thursday (July 21) that he was looking forward to working with police forces to “double the numbers of young people” in the programme.
The summit heard the National VPCs and Middlesex University set out their plans for the two-year funded research project.
It will comprise a fully integrated registration, management and training platform. The research will evaluate the usefulness of the cadet programme and monitor how it helps young people develop and improve the way they feel about authority.
The National VPC programme is recognised by both the National Police Chiefs` Council (NPCC) and the Association of Police Crime Commissioners and is based on the underpinning principles of having units based on diversity linked to the area, having a quarter of their membership from a vulnerable background and supporting their cadets to volunteer three hours a month assisting in community and crime prevention events.
Its aims are to promote a practical understanding of policing among all young people, encourage a spirit of adventure and good citizenship, support local policing priorities through volunteering, give young people a chance to be heard and inspire the 13-18 age bracket to “participate positively in their communities”.
Last month it announced at its own conference that 2016 has seen the movement reach 10,000 police cadets in 400 units.
The current membership is split evenly between boys and girls with a target of a quarter of cadets coming from vulnerable backgrounds being overtaken with a current 30 per cent participation.
Police cadets volunteered more than 300,000 hours of social action in support of their communities in the past 12 months.
Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the NPCC lead for the VPC 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.
Commenting on the project, Middlesex University lead researcher, Jeffrey DeMarco said: Were very excited to be involved.
“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.