Youth Commission make five key recommendations to Wiltshire Police

Mental health and relationships with the police are on the list

Author: Aaron HarperPublished 28th Mar 2023

The Wiltshire Youth Commission have made several recommendations to the county’s police force, including young people’s relationship with the police.

The Youth Commission presented their research, where the commission engaged with more than 2,300 young people in Wiltshire, during their annual conference in Chippenham.

On the list of five recommendations are mental health concerns, social media, community safety, drug and gang culture as well as relationships with the police.

Wiltshire Youth Commission member Gemma Hayden told us that the commission initially formed the main priorities at their first meeting in July, before narrowing it down to the five overarching themes.

“We had lots of people, some people in very high up senior positions in the police that were very keen to actually listen to our ideas, take them on board and implement them,” Gemma explained.

She added: “Some of the people that I spoke to are already working in teams of people to try and implement some of these things.”

Wiltshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, said the conference left him “fizzing” with new ideas, adding: “We need to improve how we communicate with young people and that can’t come from older people, sometimes in uniform, sometimes not, telling them what they want and what they need to do. We need to listen more and act upon what they tell us.”

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