News and Events

Latest news from Mini-Police and VPC units across England & Wales

Wednesday April 22nd 2020 was Stephen Lawrence Day. Commemorating the life of teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in an unprovoked racist attack, the day is an opportunity for children and young people to make their voices heard, be the change they want to see and help create a society that treats everyone with fairness and respect.

A cadet from the Middlesborough unit of Cleveland Volunteer Police Cadets has made an extremely powerful and important video via Tik Tok to raise awareness of domestic abuse. It is hoped that the video will encourage victims to contact the police.

In light of many Police Forces suspending their Volunteer Police Cadet schemes due to covid-19 the National VPC team has today issued advice to all Force VPC coordinators. The health of our Cadets and Leaders is paramount and we will continue to follow advice and guidance issued by the medical profession and Government. Cadets & Parents should contact their unit leaders if they require any further information

Gwent Police has welcomed its newest recruits into the force after setting up a Heddlu Bach in a Blaenau Gwent mosque, the first unit of its kind in Wales and the UK. Blaina’s Berea Mosque has established a mini police force – Heddlu Bach in Welsh – with nine officers, who will be assisted by a cadet.

Latest news from Mini Police and VPC units across England & Wales

Just picture this… a Lodge in the middle of a Welsh coastal forest with no Television, Internet and hardly a mobile phone signal, so just add Llanelli Police Cadets and yes you’ve got a fantastic four days ahead!

Latest news from VPC units across England & Wales

Ten-year-old Melissa, who was tragically killed in September in a fatal hit-and-run near her home, was a proud member of the Force's Mini Police scheme

On 3 November this year, over 50 cadets from the Met (Barnet), Hampshire, Surrey, Wiltshire and Greater Manchester VPCs were invited as VIP guests to at this year’s International Security Expo, London Olympia

Latest news from VPC units across England & Wales

Tributes have been 10 year old Northumbria Police Mini-Police Officer Melissa Tate, who was tragically killed in a road traffic collision in the Kenton area of Newcastle in September.

The Ellan Vannin Fuels Adventure Challenge has finished for another year, with groups of young people going home having had a fantastic weekend on the Island. The weekend saw Police Cadet teams from Cambridgeshire, Humberside, Croyden, Cumbria, Stranrar, Kingston, Derbyshire, alongside local teams.

Most police officers are used to getting behind the wheel and racing to incidents across Suffolk - but this team of cadets will drive a different kind of blue light vehicle this summer

Over the last 12 months, the innovative Next Gen partnership between The Security Institute and the Volunteer Police Cadets national hub team has seen over 150 VPCs from 25 police force areas invited as guests to major security industry events at London Olympia, NEC Birmingham and London Excel Centre.

More than 140 senior policing leaders took part in the national Volunteer Police Cadet Conference held at the Greater Manchester Police Sedgley Park training centre on the 8th July 2019.

Cadets from around the UK joined senior leaders, guests and colleagues from Microsoft UK for an energetic, engaging and empowering “Cadet Voice” session, at the Microsoft Campus in Reading. Cadet Voice listens to, promotes and presents the thoughts, opinions and ideas of young people from across the Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) programme, through young representatives and participants.

The VPC Cadet Youth Forum, would like to invite Cadets and Leaders, aged 16 to 25 with cadet experience, to join them at Microsofts HQ in Reading, Thames Valley, on Saturday 29 June from 10.00 to 16.00 where they will receive input from Microsoft staff and apprentices on the latest hi-tech innovations and challenged to explore proposals for the future of VPC and Policing.

A new volunteer police cadet base is set to open in the coming weeks in Bulwell, Nottingham named in memory of murdered teenager Lyrico Steede.

Gloucestershire Constabulary has launched a new initiative, that we believe is the first in the country, and will see the recruitment of 15 adults with learning difficulties into the force. The Treasure Seekers Police Cadets initiative launched in November 2018 and saw the introduction of four Community Police Cadet Officers

On 22 April 2019, Volunteer Police Cadet (VPC) units in partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust joined community groups and schools across the UK to celebrate the first national Stephen Lawrence Day.

As part of International Womens Day 2019, Leeds West Police Cadets took part in an Inspirational Women in Sport evening. The event was opened by West Yorkshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Angela Williams with a special double award presentation – cadet of the month and promotion to senior cadet in one go.

Working together, UK Youth, The Scouts, Girlguiding, National Youth Agency, NCS Trust, Youth United Foundation, Step up to Serve, The Prince’s Trust, and the British Youth Council have been calling on the Government to develop a Youth Charter.

East Herts VPC had quite a week, made up of 2 units, Hertford & Ware established in June 2015 and Bishop's Stortford established Sept 2018. They were set up and are still run by the same team, jointly the units comprise of 100 Cadets. They recently won the 2019 High Sheriff's association National crimebeat award and came second in the adult led category for their social action project ACHIEVE CARE. Both awards were given for their outstanding contribution to helping reduce crime and creating a safer community!!

This year’s Suffolk Constabulary Awards Ceremony was held on Wednesday 13th March 2019 at Wherstead Park, Ipswich. The evening recognised dedication and commitment by Regular Officers, Police Staff including PCSOs, Police Support Volunteers, Special Constabulary Officers and Volunteer Police Cadets.

Mildenhall Volunteer Police Cadets in Suffolk recently visited Gracewell of Kentford Care Home . The Care Home provides nursing and residential care for our older generations with physical health and dementia related needs. Prior to the visit, the Mildenhall Cadets received dementia friends training.

On Sunday 20 January 2019, the Suffolk Volunteer Police and Emergency Services Cadets Parade took place, kindly supported by Woodbridge School.

ALTRUIST ACTIONS RESULT IN AWESOME OUTCOMES! FOCHRIW Primary School’s Mini Police Collection - ‘The Toys for Grenfell’ Appeal. Merthyr Town Football Club, in the South Wales Valleys, issued a request for help to collect toys for the children involved in the Grenfell Tower Disaster. The campaign, ‘Toys for Grenfell’ is one of Merthyr Town FC’s charitable actions in the wider community.

After a successful pilot of Mini Police Hertfordshire Constabulary are looking to rollout the scheme across the county. To hear what the Force and Primary school teachers have to say check out this amazing video.

We have recently been made aware of two investigations currently being overseen by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) in connection with the actions of police officers and volunteers who supervise the activities of police cadet units. This has also been reported in the news media.

On Wednesday the 28th of November 2018 cadets from around the Humberside area came together to attend the annual Volunteer Police Cadet Attestation. 41 new recruits took to the stage at Hull University to take their oaths and to formally enter the Humberside Police Family. The cadets were joined by their family and friends to help celebrate their achievements so far and recognise the hard work they have put in to successfully complete their initial training.

In partnership with the Security Institute, the Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) has joined their new initiative to inspire and attract young people to consider careers within the UK security industry.

VPC units from across the UK 'Remembered the Fallen and all who Served' On Remembrance Sunday, on the centenary of Armistice, hundreds of Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) proudly marched alongside Veterans, Service colleagues & families in their communities. Here are just some of the amazing young people and adult leaders in the VPC standing proud as part of #OneBigCadetFamily

Alot of research and hardwork ended up in a trip to Belgium for the Isle of Man Cadets. Read about what they did in the log written by PC Michael Griffiths

Cleveland Police cadets were presented the plaque by the Police memorial trust as part of the project that they have been doing in order to remember PC 6 William Henderson, murdered in the execution of his duty in 1893, the only Officer to suffer such a fate in the Cleveland area.

On Sunday 28th October, on what was initially a very cold and wet day, cadets from Ipswich and Martlesham attended Stratford Court, Whitton, Ipswich, to take part in a community project.

Torbay VPC were due to parade on their normal cadet evening at Parkfield House, Paignton at 1830 and there was a request for some of the cadets to deploy to assist and support at the scene of a major incident. The mobilisation was co-ordinated by PS Lee Langley, Brixham neighbourhood team leader and cadet unit sergeant, and PC Nick Cull, local tutor constable and cadet unit leader, six cadets were requested to assist at the scene

On the 27th July, 8 young people (4 of which are Ex police cadets and now Durham Police Apprentices) went from County Durham on a visit to Durham, North Carolina in partnership with Sister Cities. This included people from Durham in England, Kostroma in Russia and Durham in North Carolina.

Suffolk held their annual Cadet Competition at Suffolk Police Headquarters, Martlesham over the weekend of 7th – 8th July 2018. A total of 60 Cadets attended the event from Lowestoft, Martlesham, Ipswich, Stowmarket, Bury and Milenhall and were supported by Cadet Leaders, Officers, Staff, Specials and Volunteers from their local areas.

More than 100 cadets from across Hertfordshire took part in this years competition. Activities included hostage rescue and riot shield runs. St Albans and Harpenden were named overall winners

Leaders from Hyde VPC recently had the pleasure of giving a ‘stay safe on-line and outside’ input to the 3rd Gee Cross Beaver colony. Alison Ashley, the head of the Beaver Colony commented: ‘A massive thank you to Dave and Sam for giving up their night, the Beavers had lots of fun. As a finale the beavers were treated to a photo-call wearing old and new police kit, a crime scene search – and assisting in the arrest of an ‘offender’!

Croydon Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) have come top in a London-wide competition designed to test the youngsters’ policing knowledge, physical skills and team dynamics.

A team of 12 Cadet from across the Warwickshire and West Mercia Police Alliance travelled to the Isle of Man to take part in a Cadets Challenge Competition organised by The Isle of Man cadets and the Isle of Man Police. The event was very kindly sponsored very by island business Ellan Vannin Fuels and organised by PC Mike Griffiths and team from the Isle of Man Police Youth Scheme This is an annual event and open to all forces Cadet Units. Warwickshire and West Mercia were the reigning champions going into the cup as they we won it the previous time the competition was held.

On Sunday 1st July Hyde VPC had a stall with a mix of past and present police paraphernalia at the Rotary club annual fete, held at Gee Cross. A small ‘crime scene’ was taped off at the rear of the display on which the youngsters visiting for a photo call were invited to search for ‘evidence’ (including a 50p coin which the finder could keep). As usual the event was enjoyed by all - and the cadets in attendance were once again great ambassadors as representatives of the police family and Greater Manchester Police.

A team of volunteer police cadets from Leicestershire Police took part in this year’s Light the Lakes challenge, to raise money for a charity supporting the families of fallen officers. Seven cadets took part in the challenge, which involved climbing 700 metres to reach the top of Pavey Ark, one of the Wainwright Peaks in the Lake District. The challenge took place overnight from Friday 22 June to the Saturday morning, with a synchronised lighting of beacons at 3am from the top of the peak.

Hertfordshire Police trial the Mini Police programme and due to it's success, will now roll it out across the force area.

On Tuesday 19th June 2018 Volunteer Police Cadets from Tower Hamlets and Sutton VPC appeared on BBC Crimewatch roadshow live with Lorin Lafave from the Breck Foundation. They spoke about the social action that they are doing as Breck Ambassadors in order to educate young people in staying safe whilst online gaming.

On Monday 4th June 2018 the VPC was part of a special feature on BBC Crimewatch Roadshow. The feature included South Wales Police Youth Volunteers demonstrating drill, first aid and the bleep test. It also featured Nabil a cadet from the Metropolitan Police Kensington & Chelsea VPC along with Sgt Leon Coltress from the Metropolitan Police Service who only 10 years ago was a member of the VPC in London. Not forgetting our very own Mr Ed Sherry OBE the VPC National Hub Director. It was just fantastic!!!

On the 22nd May 2018 the success of the Volunteer Police Cadets was celebrated at an event hosted by Baroness Harris of Richmond and Devon & Cornwall Police’s Chief Constable, Shaun Sawyer at the House of Lords. Mr Sawyer has national responsibility for the scheme which has recently benefited from two years of Home Office funding, worth £1.8m, from the Police Innovation Fund. During this time the Volunteer Police Cadets National team has supported the creation of more than 400 new VPC Units attracting members aged 9 to 18 across the programme. There are now 15,776 cadets nationwide.

HRH Prince of Wales chose his birthday to shine a light on his Patronage charities, of which Youth United Foundation played an extensive and notable role in the festivities, over 6000 invited guests attended a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, celebrating HRH 70th birthday.

Cadets from Taunton and Street VPC units were recently recognised at ‘The Pride of Somerset Youth Awards’.

In October 2017 four cadets from Greater Manchester Stockport VPC attended the Volunteer Police Cadets National Social Action Training course delivered by Graeme Ironside from the National VPC Hub team. Graeme travelled north to Stretford Police station and gave an excellent input & training session in order to equip cadets with the knowledge and skills to plan and run their own ‘social action’ projects.

Greater Manchester Police Hyde Volunteer Police Cadets participated in a litter pick in the Gee Cross area of Hyde, in the pouring rain but did not let it dampen their spirits.

We salute all of our members around the UK here are some individual stories of what our inspiring young people say about the VPC and what they have achieved. We would like to thank Youth United Foundation for putting these stories together for us!! Most importantly we would like to thank all of the young people for sharing their stories!!

Over 100 people turned up to the first crime prevention open evening run by the St Albans and Harpenden Volunteer Police Cadets on Tuesday 20th March .

The Peterborough volunteer police cadets took part in a night in cell to raise money for the Embrace charity received their certificates today from Embrace charity representatives.

Hertfordshire St Albans and Harpenden Volunteer Police cadets make a great crime prevention film in order to encourage residents to PROTECT property!!

Head Cadet Eyre from Chesterfield Volunteer Police cadets has beaten off tough National competition.

VOLUNTEER police cadets have been enlisted to help in the fight against scam artists.

Bromley VPC tackle heritage crime with award winning project.

Due to their dedicated work the Breck Ambassadors have been shortlisted for the prestige National Crime Beat Awards. Cadets across London have been delivering The Breck Program since October 2017. There are now 98 Breck Ambassadors in London and over 8000 pupils have taken part in the lesson. The Ambassadors were overjoyed to win second place in The Lord Ferrers Award .

The Mini Police programme achievements has been recognised and awarded the National Crimebeat award. The Mini Police programme is now part of the National VPC offer, and saw rapid growth in 2017, now reaching 8 forces throughout the UK, with many more due to join soon.

It's cold outside, but thanks to Boston Police Cadets some families will now be able to keep themselves nice and warm.

Volunteer Police Cadets from Mildenhall, Suffolk, recently helped a charity that supports people with learning difficulties. Leading lives provides a wide range of support to people with learning difficulties including those with physical multiple complex needs and autism with adults.

A group of Cadets, police officers and PCSOs recently joined forces to bring a smile to the face of a resident who had suffered some tough times. Prior to Christmas, Mildenhall’s Volunteer Police Cadets. along with PCSOs and police officers gave a helping hand to a local resident who had recently moved house to escape an abusive marriage.

My grandson joined North Tyneside Police Cadets some two years ago. This turned out to be one of the best decisions he could have made.

Police Cadets from across Hertfordshire joined ‘Christmas Cop’ to visit 8 people who had been victims of crime and rogue trading.

West Yorkshire Volunteer Police Cadets from across Leeds celebrate attestation. A great evening was had by all!!!

The Police Force: My Dream Career I am Matthew Selwood, a nighteen year old from Gloucestershire,ever since I was little I wanted to join the force and I wanted to join it as soon as I could.

Northumbria Police Volunteer Police Cadets have started delivering Christmas gifts to elderly people as part of Project Christmas.

An incredible 141 young people from Volunteer Police Cadet units across North West London came together to receive prestigious Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards presented at The Great Hall, Kensington on Sunday 10th December.

Shoppers picked up more than just presents when they attended Christmas markets in St Albans and Harpenden recently.

On Friday 1st December 2017 at Cleveland Police HQ, Ladgate Lane, Middlesbrough, Cadets from Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland & Stockton who have attended lessons, events and volunteered in the below areas received recognition for their hardwork by receiving certificates in the below subjects · Social Responsibility & Citizenship · Life skills · Health, Fitness & Safety · Outdoor Adventure & Teamwork · Purpose of Policing · Community Safety · Crime Awareness

Greater Manchester Police Force's Blackley VPC have been extremely busy over the past few months, taking part in different volunteering events, ranging from Community Fun Days to the Remembrance Sunday Parade in Manchester City Centre.

Twenty Volunteer Police Cadets from across Hertfordshire were invited to attend the High Sheriff’s Justice Service at St Albans Cathedral at the weekend. With celebrity guest 'Mary Berry' in attendance, it proved to be the icing on the cake for the local cadets.

Our VPC cadets are frequently offered opportunities to become involved with external projects and take on influential roles as ambassadors, where they can play a crucial part in helping to drive and influence national initiatives and projects. An example of this is as a Youth Ambassador. Project deSHAME is one such project and is a collaboration between Childnet, Save the Children (Denmark) and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Reece Monson (pictured far right) one of our VPC Sunderland cadets explains further:

GMP Police Cadets Natasha Watkins and Shannon Donnelly recently accompanied the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Kui Man Gerry Yeung, to one of his formal events in Manchester. The formal ceremony of the Signing of the Roll and the Portrait Hanging of the High Sheriff took place in the Assize Hall at Crown Square and was attended by the Lord Lieutenant, Mrs Edith Conn and the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Eddy Newman.

In April 2017, Northumbria Police launched their very own Mini Police Scheme by introducing 75 Mini Police new recruits to their Marine, Mounted and Dog sections. The Chief Constable and Police & Crime Commissioner visited the launch and handed the new recruits their uniforms, which was an exciting time for the new officers, their families and teachers, who all came along to the event.

Last year, Cleveland Police Cadets won two national awards, the National Volunteer Police Cadet Award, for Best Social Actions, and the Lord Ferrers Volunteer Police Cadet Team Award for their outstanding work in supporting people living with dementia. On a recent visit to the County, Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Policing, met up with some of the cadets to congratulate them and find out more about their endeavours.

On the weekend of 28 - 30 July, 200 cadets from 16 forces battled it out to be crowned the best unit in the country at the annual Volunteer Police Cadets competition.

As part of their Social Action Plan, a group of cadets from Middlesbrough Police Cadet Unit recently organised a day out for eighteen children who were visiting from Chernobyl in the Ukraine. After contacting the charity Chernobyl Children's Life Line, which supports children affected by the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and explaining what they wanted to do, the charity readily agreed to the cadets taking the children to Preston Park in Stockton on Tees.

On 24th July, as part of the Cadets' Social Action Scheme, the Redcar and Cleveland Cadets facilitated a day trip to the Beamish Museum in County Durham for a group of people living with dementia.

120 Volunteer Police Cadets from around Hertfordshire recently came to Police Headquarters in Welwyn Garden City to take part in the 5th Annual Police Cadets County Competition 2017. There are almost 300 young people signed up to the police cadets in Hertfordshire across the ten districts and each region sent 11 cadets to participate.

Around 200 police cadets will battle it out to be crowned the best team in the country during an action-packed event at RAF Cosford in Shropshire this weekend (28 – 30 July).

To mark the end of another fantastic cadet year, Leicestershire Police recently invited cadets and their families to attend a Recognition Parade at Force Headquarters. More than 100 cadets marched in front of their loved ones, and took part in formal uniform checks from senior officers.

Welcome to our latest newsletter update. We start with a report on the national conference, which was the largest yet and re-affirmed all the great work going on across the country and our continuing expansion that currently makes us the fastest growing uniform youth group in the country!

The VPC held their fifth annual conference at Ryton College of Policing over the weekend of 9-11 June. The conference was opened by Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, National Police Chief Lead for the programme, and the key note speaker was Charlotte Hill, the CEO of the 'Step up to Serve' campaign (www.stepuptoserve.org.uk). Charlotte gave an inspirational talk to the 140 delegates from 37 forces on the benefits of youth led social action, whilst highlighting the very close links between the aims of the #iwill campaign and those of the VPC

On 9th June, Mark John, Rachel Ward, Jack Shrine and Owain Davies, from Neath in South Wales, travelled to the VPC National Conference at Ryton Police Training College in the West Midlands. The 3 day conference focussed on the current volunteering system, future developments, information sharing and best practice for all forces to develop their schemes in the future.

The Barry Police Youth Volunteers are piloting the new Volunteer Police Cadet digital platform.

In early May nine VPC leaders from Lambeth, Kingston, Sutton and the Central team set off up to bonny Scotland to complete a 3 day self-sufficient expedition in the Cairngorm mountains.

11 Police Youth Volunteers and 6 leaders from the Barry unit recently took part in the Welsh 1000 Walk. This is a major annual event whose aim is to raise awareness and funds for the Alzheimer's society. The walk was organised by PS Mark John, Barry Police Youth Volunteer leader and coordinator.

Barry Police Youth Volunteer, Joseph Salmon, has secured a place on board a tall ship during the summer holidays as part of a local competition organised by Barry Town Council.

A group of Volunteer Police Cadets from East Herts were recently given a special accolade at this year's High Sheriff of Hertfordshire Awards for Partnership Working.

On Friday 5th - Sunday 7th May, a team of Merton and Wandsworth Volunteer Police Cadets had the privilege of taking part in a unique and dynamic military exercise weekend at Longmoor Barracks in Hampshire.

Police cadets from Staffordshire's newest unit received a visit from special guests during April's meeting at the Burton Albion Community Trust. Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis, Deputy PCC Sue Arnold and Assistant Chief Constable Emma Barnett visited the new Burton unit to find out how the cadets were settling in and assist with a unit inspection.

On Sunday 23rd April, fifteen Merton Volunteer Police Cadets joined 500 other VPC's, and young people from other organisations, on duty as key support crews throughout the route of the Virgin London Marathon.

Wandsworth Volunteer Police Cadets were, once again, proud to support the 2017 Wandsworth Young Person of the Year Awards, held at the Civic Centre on Tuesday 25th April, with Mayor of Wandsworth Cllr Richard Field, and other VIP guests, in attendance.

Grimsby cadets recently attended a special attestation event where they were invited, one-at-a-time, to take an official oath and be awarded the title of Police Cadet by Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Scott Young.

“Volunteers strengthen our police forces and make a vital contribution to keeping our communities safe"