South Wales Police is putting its new recruits through their paces by testing them amongst Christmas shoppers, this week.
Recruited in August, forty-four student police constables will hit the streets of Cardiff, Bridgend, Pontypridd and Swansea this week, to be faced with the public and real life situations.
They’ll come up against five different scenarios which will test their communication skills, empathy skills, knowledge of law and policing, and how well they can perform under pressure, faced with any given situation, in front of the general public.
A number of people from charitable organisations are helping by role playing in the different scenarios. These include young people from the Prince’s Trust, students from the Public Services Course at Barry College, the Cardiff Peoples First and Bridgend Peoples First, Retired Senior Volunteers Programme, Bridgend College Forensic Science Students, and the Ethnic Youth Support Team.
Sergeant Jeff Lewis, a South Wales Police trainer based at the University of Glamorgan, said,
“These probationers have finished 20 weeks of theory and practical-based study at the University of Glamorgan. At the end of January 2010, they will be posted to a police division within the South Wales Police.
“They’ve done some practical work in the community before but this is, by far, the most high profile training session for them in their career to date. We’re trying to replicate what they will naturally encounter when they start in their divisional roles.
“This training week will give the student constables the ideal opportunity to put the theory, learnt at the University of Glamorgan, into practice in a very public arena.”
The students will be in the following areas:
- Cardiff City Centre, The Capitol Shopping Centre, on Monday 14th December
- Bridgend Centre, Bus Station, Railway Station, The Rhiw Shopping Arcade, on Tuesday 15th December
- Pontypridd Precinct on Wednesday 16th December
- Swansea Winter Wonderland, Leisure Centre 2, Dylan Thomas Theatre Centre on Thursday 17th December
