Hope in Haringey’s Police Engagement Programme will continue to create meaningful community conversations following the announcement of The Baroness Casey Review. 

As one of the few charities in the country working to better the relationship between police officers and the community, Baroness Casey’s report on MPS culture at an institutional level serves as a reminder that there is still so much work to do.

TSG Officers speak with students at Park View School

As a charity committed to enriching the life opportunities of Haringey’s young people, we recognise that interactions with the police can drastically alter life outcomes. It is why we will continue to work with officers and young people in neutral spaces such as schools, colleges, community centres and churches and develop relational bridges between police, citizens and community groups. Additionally, we will continue to work with officers committed to bettering themselves, the standard of Haringey policing and investing in Haringey’s young people.

A Violent Crime Taskforce officer dispels the myths around gang life that is glamorised on TV.

Thanks to these officers, our work has already been successful in equipping students with information on how they can remain safe, their rights when interacting with police officers and the law around everyday scenarios they might encounter.

In March alone, we have worked with students and officers across a number of partner schools to deliver workshops. This includes:

  • Developing learning opportunities for Public Service Students by having them learn from Chief Inspector Dominic Nye and Superintendent Marco Bardetti.
  • Teaching Year 9’s on how to effectively report a Hate Crime they might witness or experience with PC Ahmed.
  • Working with the Marine Unit to explain how our waterways are policed and how water-based searches take place.
  • Working with the IOPC to teach students how to make a complaint about police behaviour.
  • Having Firearms Officer, Chris Price discuss gun safety and gun crime prevention to students.
  • An anti-gang seminar hosted by the Violent Crime Taskforce.
  • New Metropolitan Police Service recruits meeting Heartlands High School students to better orient themselves with the Haringey community and its culture.
  • A lunch with students and staff with new Haringey police recruits at Heartlands High.

Superintendent Marco Bardetti spends time with Public Service students, developing their policing knowledge.

Hope in Haringey will also remain committed to supporting students looking to start policing careers through a collaboration between our employability mentoring and police engagement programmes. As previously reported, we are working with local colleges to upskill their public service students, developing their education provisions by connecting classes with MPS professionals. Through this collaborative process, we hope the Metropolitan Police Service recruits applicants from Haringey where allegations of racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes are not tolerated and this goes on to healthily impact the Met’s culture.

To learn more about Hope in Haringey’s Police Engagement and to see how important schools based police engagement is to the borough, you can watch the video below.