SOME of Barnsley’s most inexperienced police officers have succeeded in tackling long-standing problems in the last few months.
It comes after they were recruited for a national scheme which aims to put some of the country’s sharpest young graduates at the heart of neighbourhood new ideas.
Police Now is a national scheme which recruits graduates on the strength of their problem-solving qualities rather than as career police officers and after a crash-course in the basics of law and policing practice at a London college, they are put straight out to work in challenging neighbourhoods for two years.
Barnsley’s police district was allocated two, based at Kendray and Goldthorpe.
Ch Supt Scott Green said the scheme differed from normal police recruiting because it worked on the principle of attracting some of the brightest graduates.
“The normal entry route is that they tend to do their first two years on a response team, dealing with 24 hour policing and it is only then we ask them to look through fresh eyes and try to solve problems, at which point some of the ideas they have might not be as fresh,” he said.
Under the Police Now scheme those involved will have the opportunity to move on to a different career if they wish, taking with them the experience gained, though there will also be opportunities to develop a full career for those who want to continue in the service.
That has resulted in the recruitment of constables like Fran Robbs, 21, with a degree in zoology from Leeds University, who is based at Kendray.
Her early expectation of a career in conservation work gave way to taking a Police Now placement and she has been working to help solve antisocial behaviour problems around a leisure centre on the estate.
That work has focused on working with both the community at large and the youths blamed for causing the majority of problems in the area, in an attempt to encourage respect for the facilities they have.
“Things have definitely improved, there is a much lower rate of incidents compared to last summer,” she said.
“There is a bit more respect. People used and abused the centre, but now there is more respect for the site.”
Colleague Amy Mellor, 22, is an English graduate and is based with the Goldthorpe safer neighbourhood team.
That is an area where some sections of the community still have a mistrust of the police which dates back to the 1984 miners’ strike and part of her role has been to try to help break down those barriers.
But there is also a more hard edged side to the work and it was PC Mellor who realised the installation of CCTV in Doncaster Road, where the majority of shops are based, would help deter crime.
“It is about engaging with kids,” she said.
“We don’t want to criminalise them and I have a good relationship with a lot of young people. They know me by my first name and instead of avoiding us, they come up and chat. There is a level of respect with some, if not all.
“It is about liaising with the community and responding to that. Their issues may not be the same as police priorities.”
