"Groundbreaking" project using Bristol children to teach police on racism
An animation featuring the lived experience of Bristol children will now be used to train new Avon and Somerset officers
Children from May Park Primary School in Bristol are helping train the police on how to build trust in the community, in a first of its kind project in the UK.
Since 2021 researchers from the University of the West of England (UWE) have been working with children from the school in Easton to explore the everyday experiences of racism they navigate, which the team says revealed "a broken relationship" between young children and the police.
Among the comments received were that the children "want to trust the police" but feel "scared to leave home" and that in reality officers make them feel less safe.
From September the learnings will be used to teach trainee officers with Avon and Somerset Police through UWE's Professional Policing course. The outcomes of the research are already being trialled within Avon and Somerset Police as part of its training.
UWE Bristol and Avon and Somerset Police also worked with the Bristol-based CC Animation Studio to create an animation which addresses issues of institutional racism in the police.
Lead researcher, Dr Verity Jones, associate professor in education at UWE Bristol, said: “Partnering with Avon and Somerset Police on this project has allowed us to develop much-needed tools based on real insight into children’s experience of everyday racism in the UK. This will be the start of real change to address racism in the emergency services.”
PC Ryan Day, inclusion and diversity officer at Avon and Somerset Police, said: “Chief Constable Sarah Crew acknowledged institutional racism in our service in 2023 and since then we have been taking practical steps to support our ambition of becoming an anti-racist organisation.
“It’s sad so many children from global majority backgrounds don’t trust the police to keep them safe, but I know this stems from intergenerational trauma stretching back decades, where certain communities felt over policed and under protected.
"This project takes a refreshing approach by capturing children’s voices and really listening to what they’re telling us, as so often children’s views are overlooked by those in authority.
“Looking at how we train our new officers is fundamental in changing the culture in Avon and Somerset Police, so they hear first-hand the issues we’re trying to address and build cultural understanding from the start of their careers about the approach needed when policing different communities."