Working with young people aged between 12 and 18 years old, the sixteen-week, bespoke learning programme, delivered by BDS Training, explores issues in the wider community such as ASB, and other offending, aiming to strengthen relationships with where young people live and making the area safer.
During the programme, those taking part have also gained employability skills, working towards a qualification. At the end of the programme, an awards and recognition event will showcase the progress made by those taking part, again integrating them into the areas they live.
A recent session in Skelmersdale saw the Lancashire Police early intervention team running a workshop on as part of the 4-month scheme backed by Commissioner Snowden’s Safer Lancashire Neighbourhood’s Fund.
Andrew Snowden, Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire said:
“This is a great project being run by BDS Training in Skelmersdale, which I’ve funded to help make local communities safer and avoid young people both getting involved in offending, or becoming victims themselves.
“Supporting officers to get tough on crime and anti-social behaviour by encouraging long term solutions owned by people who live and work in the areas impacted, is exactly what my Safer Lancashire Neighbourhoods Fund is all about and it’s a poetic irony that this work is using cash seized from criminals to keep the areas they exploited safe.
“I will continue to work closely with the Chief Constable to ensure that we are delivering on the priorities in my Fighting Crime Plan. This means punishing those who make life a misery for others by putting them behind bars, seizing any assets gained through their offending, and protecting the public.”
Kimberly Rowlands from BDS Training said:
“Students have been really captured by these sessions, fully engaging and producing some amazing work! They have had the opportunity to work with groups of people out of their normal everyday social circle and visited various locations around Skelmersdale, such as the local police station.
“This first cohort are well on their way to achieving their Level 1, City & Guilds Employability qualification, which will give them an extra boost to carry on to higher education, whilst taking away lots of valuable information to help them within the community.”
