Volunteer
Police Cadets
Volunteer Police Cadets
Aged 13 to 17? Then this is your chance to support the community and develop leadership skills.
The Volunteer Police Cadets Scheme provides a safe environment where young people can learn as individuals, develop positive relationships with the police and actively support the community.
As a volunteer police cadet you’ll be issued with a uniform and attend weekly sessions in term time lasting two hours in the evenings. You’ll learn about a wide range of policing and community-related topics and get to meet some of our specialist policing teams.
As well as these weekly sessions, you’ll need to commit to volunteering for a minimum of three hours per month. We’ll help you find opportunities to do so. Every year our cadets have the opportunity to take part in some large-scale public events as well as more local volunteering close to the unit that you join.
As a cadet you will get the chance to work alongside police officers and staff at a variety of events and policing operations, leading to you achieving our Police Cadet Volunteering Award. In addition we host the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme in house and provide opportunities currently to achieve both the bronze and silver award. You can also use your cadet volunteering hours to count towards your DofE award if you do this with your school or another provider.
Locations
Units are based in the following locations. We continue to look at setting up more units in the future.
Monday
- Portsmouth North Unit (based in Hilsea)
- Hedge End
Tuesday
- Winchester
- Portsmouth South Unit (based in Southsea)
- Southampton Unit (based in Milbrook)
- Gosport
Wednesday
- Havant and Petersfield Unit (based in Havant)
- Andover
- Isle of Wight Unit (based in Newport)
Thursday
- Basingstoke
- New Forest (based in Dibden)
All units operate 6-8pm except the Isle of Wight, Southampton and Hedge End which are 6.30-8.30pm.
Apply now to become a police cadet
Questions about being a cadet?
Raising a Safeguarding concern
If you wish to confidentially raise a safeguarding concern regarding a cadet or the cadet scheme, please contact the relevant teams below:
National VPC team vpc.safeguarding@vpc.police.uk
The NSPCC helpline 0800 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk
The Independent Office for Police Conduct 0300 020 0096 or cadets@policeconduct.gov.uk
Volunteer Police Cadet Leaders
We are looking for volunteers to help support our cadet units, attending various events throughout the year and helping with the smooth running of the weekly sessions.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone to use their personal qualities and skills within their community and learn, alongside our police cadets, how Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary operate. It is a great chance to help give back to your local community by helping shape the understanding of today’s youth. You’ll be supporting the delivery of awareness sessions to help cadets learn legislation and policies. You’ll also attend events to promote positive community engagement and inspiring young people to become good citizens. This will help build their confidence as they become young adults.
What does the role involve?
Cadet leaders assist with the running of the cadet units. Their main tasks and responsibilities include:
- providing support and guidance to the cadets
- delivering or assisting with training and inputs
- training and assisting with drill
- training outdoor skills for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award camping expeditions
We are looking for cadet leaders to assist in all cadet units. The units run weekly 2 hours sessions during term time only. With occasional events at weekends and in the school holidays.
We are looking for cadet leaders who can be:
- positive role models for the cadets and inspire them to fulfil their potential
- demonstrate good interpersonal, communication and organisational skills
Previous experience of/qualifications in youth engagement work, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, outdoor skills, sports coaching or first aid would be an advantage although not essential as you will receive training to support you to develop your own knowledge and skillset. Leaders are not required to be from a policing background.
Why volunteer?
In return, you will gain valuable skills and qualities of which can be applied in a variety of situations. You will feel part of a team, you will build a ‘feel good’ factor as a volunteer for the police and there may also be the opportunity for you to gain knowledge whilst supporting the leadership of the VPC group.
Reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed.
Application Process
A brief summary of the selection process is as follows:
- Application form
- Attendance at a competency and values based interview
- Pre-join checks consisting of police vetting, an enhanced DBS check, and references.
- Completion of relevant safeguarding training before being introduced to the unit.
- You will also be offered a taster session at the unit that you would like to volunteer at.
Positive Action
At Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary we are committed to being diverse and inclusive and we value difference. We strive to be reflective of the diverse communities we serve. We welcome and encourage applications from people from all backgrounds. To ensure every potential candidate has an equal opportunity of fairness, we offer support and guidance from the start. The Equality Act 2010 allows us to promote equality within Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary by adopting Positive Action. Whether you are just thinking about a role within Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary or have already applied, the Positive Action Team are here to assist you.
For more information please email: positive.action@hampshire.police.uk
You can contact this team at any time, whether we are actively recruiting for a particular role or not.
Apply now to become a cadet leader
Questions about being a cadet leader?
You can follow our cadets and all the things we are involved in on ‘X’ using @HantsPolCadets