Day: February 26, 2017

Edinburgh police officers are inviting local children to an arts and crafts and face painting session at the Tesco store in Duke Street on Saturday 4th March.

The officers will be at the store between 11am and 4pm giving away wristbands, pencils and pens and refreshments supplied by the store. Children will be invited to dress up as police officers and sit in the police car, and there will also be a DJ and other fun activities provided by Tesco at their 80’s themed event.

This event is a follow-on from two successful community-based ‘Meet the Police’ pilot projects at the Sheriff Court and Stenhouse Primary School aimed at building trust between communities and the police with a particular emphasis on children.

Police Constable Tracey Gunn said: “We want to encourage children and families to think about the ways the police keep them safe but also to raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities of the police towards the public and vice versa.

“We will also showcase our work with offenders and their families, in particular our booklet ‘My Daddy and the Police’ and will gather feedback as to how better to build trust within the communities we serve. I am looking forward to meeting families at Tesco’s on Saturday 4th March and hope they will find it a fun and informative day.”

Tracey is the driving force behind the creation of the Police Liaison Officer position at HMP Edinburgh. It was the first in Scotland and initiatives and ways of working she has introduced have been adopted at other prisons in the country. It’s key in developing positive working relationships between local police and the prison.

If you regularly follow Police Scotland’s Facebook page you may have seen Tracey’s flagship scheme, “Meet the Police”, which is being rolled out in prisons across Scotland and local communities through events at courts, supermarkets, libraries and schools.

Tracey continues to develop her work and is currently working on a short film made with prisoners that aims to steer young people who are involved in low level offending or those at risk of offending away from more serious crime, by showing them the harsh realities of being involved in organised crime and prison life.