Young people share their voice at pioneering police engagement event

Dozens of teenagers have had their voices heard as part of a pioneering police engagement event to empower young people and help them make positive and safer choices.

Nottinghamshire Police’s youth outreach team hosted its first-ever ‘Voice of the Youth’ forum at the Broadway Cinema in Hockley on Tuesday (24 March).

It saw more than 50 teenagers aged 14 to 18 come together from 14 different schools and education providers to share their opinions on key issues affecting young people in Nottingham city centre and how they can be better supported by the police.

The day began with presentations from industry experts with lived experience on four key topic areas – knife crime and gang culture, drugs and alcohol, social media, and mental health.

Guest speakers included former gang members who have been stabbed, two women who faced substance addiction, mental health support workers, police cybercrime officers, and victim support services.

In the afternoon, the young people broke off into four workshop groups where they shared their experiences and opinions with their peers and openly discussed the topics in frank detail.

At the end of each session, they had the opportunity to ask the speakers questions and present their feedback and learnings as the event concluded.

The day was officially opened and closed by Superintendent Heather Maelor, who sits on strategic boards that inform policing and young people, to actively listen and help improve the force’s understanding of issues affecting children.

Guests were also one of the first groups to try Nottinghamshire Police’s new immersive virtual reality experience.

Using VR headsets, students are placed in realistic scenarios where they are faced with making different decisions in response to what they witness firsthand, allowing them to experience the potential consequences of knife crime in a safe environment and understand how their choices influence the outcome.

Nottinghamshire Police officers are using the experience to help young people understand the dangers and long-term impact of carrying a knife.

The force’s youth outreach team, which often works with children at risk of offending or exclusion from education, are experts at working with young people in an informal and engaging way to earn their trust and confidence, and overcome the barriers often associated with a traditional police uniform.

They aim to help young people make positive life choices and decisions, amplify their voices, and improve relationships between the police, communities, and young people by offering bespoke one-to-one support and referrals to other specialist services.

Topics and discussions at the event were informed by the input of Nottinghamshire teenagers at previous youth outreach engagement events run by the force, where young people have completed a QR code form to provide direct feedback about what matters to them.

The event was made possible with the support of and representatives from: Broadway Cinema, Change Grow Live, Ignite Futures, Nottingham City Council, Remedi, Clean Slate Nottingham Recovery Network, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham’s Violence Reduction Partnership, and Nottinghamshire Victim Care.

Tremayne Blair, Nottinghamshire Police’s youth outreach team coordinator, said: “It’s really important that as a force we break down barriers with young people and ensure that their voice is heard.

“While these are serious topics, the reality is that young people are equally affected by these issues and events like this help ensure that we better understand how they are impacted.

“By actively listening to the concerns of young people, we can improve our response and directly share that feedback with partner organisations.

“I’ve been really impressed by the way the young people have applied themselves – they were inquisitive and engaged throughout, which has helped to make this event a great success.

“As a youth outreach team, we regularly go into schools, colleges and other education settings to engage directly with young people and deliver one-to-one support.

“The voice of young people is central in what is often a difficult conversation to help equip teenagers with the life skills needed to enable them to safely navigate any challenges they may experience.

“This is why it is so important that we speak with young people and educate them on these topics to help prevent this behaviour if they find themselves in a scenario where they feel pressured to carry a weapon, take drugs, or engage in harmful social media activity.”