Trip to Buckingham Palace for Notts police

Paul Dickinson and Supt Rich Fretwell were invited to the Palace on Tuesday, May, 17, as part of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Prince’s Trust.

Supt Rich Fretwell said: “It was an interesting day and a great to see the good work being done by organisations including Nottinghamshire Police - especially the work Paul Dickinson does in supporting it and the PCSOs who have been seconded to help young people.

“The Prince went round and spoke to lots and lots of people. He was really friendly – laughing and joking with people – and very supportive of the work being done.”

For the last five years, partnerships co-ordinator Paul Dickinson has been helping to facilitate the work of our PCSOs in becoming assistant team leaders on the Trust’s Team Programme.

In that time, 25 Nottinghamshire PCSOs have become assistant team leaders, with four of those going on to become team leaders in their own right.

Paul Dickinson said: “It has been a very rewarding five years. These young people who are being helped don’t just have employment and occupational issues but often other issues such as health and monetary problems.”

The work PCSOs do also assists them in becoming better officers as they learn leadership skills, the ability to work with young people and extend their own networks with partner agencies as they help resolve some of the difficult issues in these young people’s lives.

The Buckingham Palace event was not only attended by those who have been involved in helping young people but those who have completed the course themselves.

Paul said: “Everybody there that I spoke to was absolutely committed to doing what they could to help these young people get back on track.

“Around 835,000 young people have been on the course and helped in getting their life turned around. Some of those people were at the event yesterday and spoke about how the course gave them the confidence and life-skills to do what they want to do in life.”