Recruits put through their paces by drama students

New recruits at Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are getting a taste of the different incidents they could encounter in a series of drama workshops with student actors from Salford City College.

As part of their general training, and to assess their learning, all new GMP recruits will take part in two student development exercise (SDE) weeks, which vary on each division depending on the opportunities available.

PC John Sharples, who was responsible for organising the drama workshops for recruits in Salford, explained: “When arranging these days I wanted to test our new recruits with a number of possible situations they may face in the community, but within the confines of a controlled environment.

“It was also really important that we worked with our communities on this, so with this in mind I approached the Salford City College, who were very enthusiastic about working together.”

The student police officers took part in eight different mock scenarios ranging from civil disputes to shoplifting, stop and search and alternative sub-culture hate incidents. Each day anything up to 14 actors would take part in the mock scenarios, ten of which were students.

“The new recruits gain valuable experience in dealing with more realistic situations, as well as traditional classroom-based sessions,” added PC Sharples

“This is a new partnership for GMP so it was a step into the unknown, but I can safely say that the students from Salford City College have been absolutely superb. They have brought realism, enthusiasm and professionalism to the scenarios, which have brought the best out of our own student police officers.”

Kevin Rowntree, curriculum leader for performance and production arts at the college, said taking part in the roleplay scenarios for the GMP training programme had been “an invaluable experience” for the students.

“The acting course at Salford City College prepares our actors for employment in the industry and this is exactly the kind of work-related activity that offers the opportunity for them to apply the performance techniques and skills they have learnt.

“It is also an excellent way to forge a mutually beneficial partnership with a local employer and we hope to develop our relationship with GMP in future projects.”