The award winning JAM in the Hood project is now in its third year and students Chloe Rowlett (Year 8), William Walker, Shannon Davidson, Roy Grant, (Year 9) Bradley Thompson and Danielle Mackness  (Year 10) beat off competition from more than 130 Corby young people to claim their place on the 13 week course.

Run jointly by Northants Police and youth charity Groundwork Northants, the project aims to give the young people an insight into policing within the community. During the scheme they will learn all about the role of the Corby Police team with a behind the scenes look at the local police station as well as visits to the dog handling and helicopter sections.

It will be a hands on role for the students who will become part of the police’s ‘extended family’, taking part in crime prevention events such as leaflet dropping and visiting victims of crime.

There will also be a team-building residential weekend.

Our resident Police Community Support Officer Alex Franklin, who will be involved in running the project, said: “The aim is to give young people an insight into what goes on in the community they are living in and they will become an extended part of the police family.

“It gives them a chance to work with different people, using different skills and it is an eye-opening and unique experience. Among those that did it last year four went on to the Police cadets and three went on to Army cadets.

‘Part of the interview was finding out what the candidates understood about the local community and what their aims and goals are. We were looking for a mixture of those who perhaps want to be a police officer when they are older but also others that we just thought would benefit from attending. The course is ASDAN accredited meaning that it looks good on CVs and also carries UCAS points.’

Shannon Davidson said: “I am really looking forward to it and a highlight will be getting a qualification from it.

Bradley Thompson added: “I am doing  a BTEC Public Services course so this experience will be really useful for my studies.”

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