Kent appoints Olympic torchbearer as new youth commissioner

Kerry Boyd, who was a London 2012 Olympic torchbearer, will take up the post on a part-time basis on Wednesday before starting full-time next month.

She will work closely with Kent police and crime commissioner Ann Barnes in a bid to bridge the gap between young people and police.

She will also work with schools, colleges and universities to deliver educational packages on issues such as knife crime and drugs.

Barnes said she is looking forward to working with Boyd.

She said: “Kerry really stood out for me as a strong-minded young lady who has a hunger to make a difference.

“I’m confident that Kerry has lots of exciting ideas to make sure that young people are involved in future policing.”

Boyd’s appointment comes almost a year after Kent’s first youth commissioner suffered a very public fall from grace.

Paris Brown was appointed as the country’s first youth commissioner in April last year, highlighting her priorities as improving relations between police and young people and getting young people into work.

But she resigned five days later after media criticism over comments she made on Twitter about sex, drugs, “pikeys” and “fags”.