The initiative to provide this training to those visiting the shopping centre in Dartford came from the force’s specialist team who focusses on the wellbeing of young people in Kent.

Police Sergeant Glen Rickersey and PC Jodie Hobbs from the Kent Police Child Centred Policing Team welcomed around 100 people to the force’s engagement centre at the retail complex during the school holidays on Thursday 26 October 2023. Families who popped in with their children were all keen to learn what to do in an emergency. This included how to put someone in the recovery position, tend to injuries, carry out CPR, where to locate defibrillators and when to call 999.

Officers also discussed personal safety with youngsters encouraging them to memorise their own home addresses and the phone number of a trusted friend or relative and look at their surroundings and explain clearly where they are to the emergency services.

PC Jodie Hobbs said: ‘Thanks to recent funding around 40 officers at Kent Police have so far received special training in how to teach people first aid. Whilst we all have this training ourselves as officers, these enhanced skills mean we can now safely show others how to handle emergency situations where basic first aid may be required, particularly young people which is an area of focus for our team. Some children are also young carers and may find themselves in situations where they need to deal with a medical emergency at home. We want to give them the confidence and support to handle incidents like this.

‘We already engage with children in schools and talk about various topics including the dangers of knife crime. We are hoping to incorporate this first aid and personal safety training into some of those talks in the future now that we have more officers capable of passing on these important skills.’