Officers go back to school to learn Urdu

Members of the Urdu class with Mr Shazad.

Neighbourhood Policing Teams in Rochdale having been getting to know their community by learning Urdu.

Members of the Rochdale South Neighbourhood Policing Team went back to school to take Urdu classes.

The classes were designed to help improve officers knowledge of culture and to strengthen links with the local Asian community.

Twelve police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) from the Kingsway and Milkstone and Deeplish wards started the six-week language course on 1 August.

The classes have been taking place at Castlemere, Deeplish and Sparth Bottom Community Centres.

PCSO Madasir Nasir arranged the classes, which were taught by town magistrate Ghulam Rasool Shazad. The first few lessons gave officers the opportunity to learn simple phrases such as ‘hi’, ‘how are you?’ and ‘my name is’.

These are the first to be delivered on Rochdale Division and it is hoped that the new language skills will help in everyday police work.

Inspector Michelle Hughes for the Rochdale South Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “The feedback we have had so far has been brilliant. Everyone who has done the course has been able to use it in their job and they have found that it immediately helps to break down barriers.

“It is really appreciated by members of the public who lack confidence in their English language skills and shows that our police officers are committed to strengthening their relationships with the local Asian community.”

Mr Shazad who is a trained Urdu teacher, said: “I have been very pleased with the commitment shown by these officers to the classes and by the speed that they have been learning.

“They have been excellent and have definitely exceeded my expectations. So far they have been learning the history of the language and its origins as well as being taught basic words and nouns as well as sentence structure.

“I do believe that these lessons will have huge benefits to both the police and the local community.”