Youth training for police officers gains sector support

Inspector Andy Briers, who leads the Metropolitan Police Safer Schools Team, said the way police deal with young people needs to improve and said tailored training for officers who regularly work with them could help address the problem.

The idea has received backing from figures in both the youth work and youth justice sectors since Briers made the suggestion at a conference staged by the Centre for Social Justice and Prison Reform Trust.

Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency, said the idea could produce a number of benefits.

“If police were trained to work with young people it would mean situations won’t get escalated,” she told CYP Now. 

“It would mean better relations between police and young people. There would be a better understanding of youth issues.”

There are currently a number of police “specialisms” which officers can be trained in, including child abuse investigation.  

Penelope Gibbs, director of the Prison Reform Trust’s Out of Trouble programme, said a move to introduce training would lead to far less “friction and tension” between police and young people.

“It is a good idea and worth looking at, although there are clearly resource implications,” she said.

Introducing the idea, Briers said that around 1,000 officers in London “work deeply” with young people, but that their options for dealing with them are limited to arrest, often turning a blind eye to the opportunity to refer to other agencies.

“I would like to see a specialism in working with young people,” Briers said. “There should be a better understanding of how to do it. I think that would help aid the situation and problems we have.”