West Mercia Police Fixes It For Romany Girl To Visit HQ

Sophie Burnside with dog handler PC Jill Snook and trainee police dog Quest. West Mercia Police has welcomed a teenage girl to its headquarters to reassure her that being from a Gypsy-Romany family is no bar to achieving her ambition of becoming a police officer.

Sophie Burnside, aged 16, wants to become a police dog handler, but had been told by others that she would not be able to join the police because of her background.

To show Sophie and anyone else from a travelling community that there is no bar to them joining the force, she was invited to spend a day at its headquarters at Hindlip Hall, Worcester, to have a taste of what the force can offer as an employer.

She got to visit the call management centre, meet student officers and tour the Dog Section to see young dogs training and learn about the variety of work the unit is involved in.

Deb McIntosh, who works for West Mercia Police's Personnel Services and is responsible for outreach to the Gypsy-Romany community, said: "I met Sophie and her parents at an event to liaise with travelling communities in Hartlebury.

"She told me that she wanted to become a dog handler but was worried she might not be able to join the police because people had told her we wouldn't be interested because of her Romany background.

"At the event we told her this was far from the truth and she was able to speak to a police officer who was from the Romany community himself. West Mercia Police is committed to having a diverse workforce that represents the people we serve.

"We invited Sophie to police headquarters and I put together a day that I hope provided her with a good overview of what we do and can offer. I hope this gave Sophie a flavour of what West Mercia Police is like and offer encouragement that we value the diversity of the communities we serve and encourage applications from everyone.

"I hope it has inspired her to pursue her ambition of becoming an officer one day."

Following her visit, Sophie said: "I definitely want to be a police officer and I now feel a lot better that I can do it. It was good to see the dogs - this was my favourite part. I enjoyed seeing them go through their exercises and I would like to be a dog handler.

"Meeting the student officers was good too. I took part in a role play and got to learn about all the different ways that police sort our people's problems."

Issued: Wednesday 4 August 2010