Police training on children's issues undermined by 'lack of capacity'

Deputy chief constable for Sussex Police Olivia Pinkney said there had been little progress in discussions with the College of Policing over providing more initial training on children's issues for police officers, special constables, police community support officers (PCSOs) and call handlers.

Pinkney, who is the children and young people’s lead for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), highlighted last year the need to increase training to help improve the police service’s response to enquiries from the public about the behaviour of young people.

However, speaking to CYP Now, Pinkney said a “lack of capacity” at the College of Policing had been a stumbling block to tackling the issue.  

“What we’ve agreed with the college is that spotting vulnerability is what police officers, PCSOs and call handlers need to know,” she said.

“What I’m not confident our workforce understands is when a young person has trauma or is living with domestic violence how that manifests in their behaviour. I’m not confident around that at all.

"They don’t need to be experts but they do need to have a good working knowledge so they can be the professional in that situation. The college acknowledges that, but we haven’t got any further because of a lack of capacity.

"We haven’t been able to progress that as much as I’d have liked, but it has not gone off the agenda.”

Improving police officers’ knowledge of children and young people’s issues and their skills in engaging with them is key to delivering the aims of the NPCC’s first Children and Young People’s Policing Strategy, published in September.