Home Office
Last night, Home Secretary Amber Rudd paid a visit to one of the London borough volunteer police cadets units at St Pauls Academy in Abbey Wood, Greenwich.
The group of 40 young cadets, all aged between 11 and 17 years old from the Abbey Wood area, treated her to a marching routine as well as an original piece of drumming composed by the cadets called Home Secretary.
During her visit, cadet Remie Murphy-Hawkins, Drill Commander, invited the Home Secretary to inspect the unit. She then spoke with many of the participants to hear about the work they do helping to prevent crime, and to explain about her role as Home Secretary.
The Home Secretary also presented a number of the cadets with awards for outstanding achievements and announced the new head and deputy head cadet.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:
I was delighted to visit and personally thank the cadets in Greenwich for their great voluntary work. They are a credit to their unit and are real role models in their local communities giving up their time to help others.
The Metropolitan Police Service, like every force in the country, wants to reflect the communities they serve and I am very pleased that so many young men and women particularly those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds - are choosing to take part in the cadets and helping their local forces deliver effective policing for young people.
I hope that they may also be inspired to take up a future career in policing.
The volunteer police cadets (VPC) programme runs across every borough in London and is aimed at young people aged between 10 and 24 years old. It is the main youth engagement programme for the Metropolitan Police Service, with 5,000 cadets volunteering regularly with police officers across London and supporting operational policing, crime prevention and community safety.
In 2015, cadets contributed over 200,000 volunteer hours, supporting the Metropolitan Police and helping to prevent crime. The Metropolitan Police Services VPC programme attracts a diverse group of participants with more than half coming from BME backgrounds and half being female.