It had been recognised that Volunteer Police Cadet schemes needed strengthening and a number of changes have been put in place to safeguard the many young people who give their free time to support policing in this way. Below are some key highlights of the changes nationally and in Dorset:

• The National Volunteer Police Cadet Safeguarding and Standards Hub was created to provide central coordination for schemes across the country. The hub now delivers mandatory safeguarding training for all leaders, including here in Dorset, and works with forces to annually refresh the standards and assess force progress in relation to them, as well as sharing good practice and lessons learned between force leads.
• A national safeguarding case management system is open to all to record and monitor low level concerns regarding cadets and leaders.
• The hub has set national Safe to Operate Standards and we have been benchmarking against these. Most of the standards were already in place but we are further reviewing our processes and expect this work to be completed this year.
• A Designated Responsible Officer (DRO) has been appointed at Chief Officer level to oversee the introduction of the new, non-negotiable national standards.
• We now have a national minimum standard Safeguarding Policy and Child Protection Procedures, along with a Safer Recruitment Policy.
• Since April 2021 all cadet leaders and coordinators have been enhanced DBS checked prior to starting and those already with us were rechecked. Guests remain under the supervision of cadet leaders. All events are risk assessed and cadets are always accompanied and supervised by cadet leaders/coordinators. Communication between cadets and leaders is via the national audited safeguarding portal or in person at unit meetings.

There is a support line for leaders and cadets to report if they have concerns in the form of an independent whistleblowing line: vpc.safeguarding@vpc.police.uk.

Help and support

There are also a number of organisations that can offer help and support:

The Lucy Faithful Foundation has advice for adults concerned about sexual abuse on the website, as well as a confidential support help line: 0808 1000 900. The NSPCC has information and advice for parents and carers, a helpline for reporting concerns: 0808 800 5000 and an online reporting service.

We are committed to continuing to make improvements to our cadet programme and ensure only the right people with the very highest of standards are chosen to support our police cadets.

Report concerns

If you have any concerns in respect of any member of the organisation, we encourage you to report them to Dorset Police so they can be thoroughly investigated.

You can do this by calling 101 or emailing complaints-misconduct@dorset.pnn.police.uk.

Alternatively, members of the public can contact the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) – details of which can be found via their website www.policeconduct.gov.uk or anonymously via the Crimestoppers charity online or freephone 0800 555 111.

Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya