Greater Manchester Police to receive special recognition for commitment to Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

Cadets at one of the 999 Day events

Greater Manchester Police is to receive special recognition at Buckingham Palace for its commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

The force will be presented with a special plaque at the Palace on 16 May to reflect its efforts to train over 400 cadets through the scheme. Currently this is the largest number of cadets to be trained by any police force in the country outside London.

As part of the training, the cadets have played an important role working on a number of key events during the past year such as the Manchester Marathon, when four cadets played a vital role in helping two runners who collapsed at the event, including one athlete who suffered a cardiac arrest and another who suffered a diabetic episode.

In addition, the cadets have taken part in special 999 days at the Trafford Centre and assisted on skill development exercise days for student special constables.

The cadets have also helped to paint and restore a former community centre for local residents in Walkden and assisted with street patrols during fresher weeks around local universities as part of the ‘safer students campaign’.

More than 100 GMP cadets are currently completing their bronze standard award, with around 125 being assessed for the silver standard award.

Sergeant Chis Corbett, development officer for Greater Manchester Police volunteer police cadets and Jane Butler, GMP neighbourhoods, confidence and equality inspector will be presented with the plaque at Buckingham Palace.

Sergeant Corbett said: “Greater Manchester Police is fully committed to supporting the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and it is tremendous to have both our work and those of the cadets recognised in this way. The cadets themselves make an important contribution to

Greater Manchester Police and have done work which has made a vital difference to the lives of many people in the local community.

“Their recent efforts have ranged from helping to restore a community centre for local residents to providing life-saving assistance during the Manchester Marathon.

“The cadets are excelling in their bronze and silver standard training and we are hopeful that many will soon progress to the gold standard.”