A specialist Nottinghamshire Police programme designed to proactively engage with primary schoolchildren across Nottinghamshire has been refreshed.

The Mini Police programme, which is tailored towards year 5 pupils, has been updated to include more interactive activities.
Police constables and community support officers run the eight-week scheme in the classroom and provide youngsters with the opportunity to build rapport, trust, and confidence in their neighbourhood officers.

Mini Police has previously left a positive impression on schoolchildren across Nottinghamshire, with groups now proactively approaching officers in their community to raise concerns and talk with them in the street.

Each lesson has information about the law, establishing right from wrong, as well as quizzes, games, activities, and group discussions.
The refreshed sessions will focus on bullying and an introduction to not sharing images, hate crime, anti-social behaviour, road safety and the fatal four, permission, and the criminal justice system.

The programme culminates with an interactive role-playing activity where schoolchildren will assume the different roles as part of the criminal justice system and act out a scenario taking an offender from arrest through to conviction and sentencing.

After completing the programme, each class of schoolchildren attends a Mini Police graduation ceremony where each pupil is recognised and presented with a certificate.

Citizens in Policing coordinator Barbara Strang, Nottinghamshire Police’s Prevention Hub lead for Mini Police, said: “The reality is that many of the topics that are highlighted as part of the Mini Police programme affect the daily lives of some of the children we engage with.

“It’s important that we equip them with the skills needed to confront these scenarios, should they arise.”