Members of the first ‘junior police academy’ in Angus are now Citizens on Patrol.
A ‘passing out’ event was held at Arbroath Academy to mark the completion of the group’s initial training course.
Pupils enrolled in a 12-week training course to become police volunteers and play a key role in the local community.
The Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) programme aims to strengthen the relationship with the police and young people.
The scheme allows people aged 13-18 to get an insight into policing and inspire them to participate positively within their communities.
PC Paul Morgan, who is the PSYV coordinator, said the volunteers will now remain part of the programme until they reach the age of 18.
PC Morgan, from Forfar Police Office, said the group can’t wait to get involved in carrying out volunteer work locally and nationally.
He said: “I’m delighted because all 24 people that initially enrolled have gone on to complete the course.
“In the past 12 weeks we’ve looked at things like missing persons, incident response, lost property and first aid training.
“We’ve also looked at the police rank structure, the phonetic alphabet, how to use a radio, basic drills and care of uniform.”
PC Morgan said the scheme prepares young people for their future by providing varied activities and opportunities to develop qualifications and enhance inter-personal skills and confidence.
“We’ve done quite a lot of public speaking to build their confidence up when speaking to people,” he said.
“Six or seven of them are keen to join the police but everyone is seeing the benefits of taking part in the programme.”
PC Morgan said the volunteers have already undertaken their first role by giving peer education advice at a Safe Angus event.
They will also help out at Arbroath’s Festival of Heroes in June with other events on the horizon such as T in the Park.
The recruits will also be getting involved in the St Vigeans Clean Up Network which was set up to help clean up that part of Arbroath.
PC Morgan said he hopes that even if they don’t end up in the police that they will continue to be involved in the voluntary sector as they go on through life.
He said: “There is a huge amount of voluntary services which support our public services and they can get a lot out of it.
“It would be great to think that even if they don’t end up in the police that they might become volunteers for say the lifeboat or mountain rescue.”
He added that there are now 22 PSYV groups in Scotland and four of them are in the Tayside area which he said was “fantastic”.
