THE next generation of police officers were sworn in last week as the West Swindon Police Cadets completed their probation and prepare to hit the streets.

The second unit of the pilot project in Wiltshire, 18 students between the ages of 13 and 17 from various schools around the west of the town have completed a 10 week training programme, and spoke proudly at their attestation ceremony on Thursday evening.

The group can now look forward to tackling anti-social behaviour, attending community events, and learning the tricks and the trade of policing, including the phonetic alphabet and using the radio network.

They follow in the footsteps of the North Swindon Cadets, who have already attended drugs raids, Womad festival and the summer solstice at Stonehenge.

Sgt Steve McGlynn, youth engagement lead for Wiltshire Police, said the North Swindon unit are already coming on leaps and bounds.

"Recently they have picked up a community anti-social behaviour issue around a shop in Highworth where groups of youngsters always hang around," he said.

"They have done door to door enquiries and put up posters in the area, and we are meeting with the local council to discuss the issue.

"We are really looking at using them for peer to peer education. As much as we can we will get them involved in community events doing crime prevention duties and really start engaging with the public.

"We work with some very challenging students from challenging backgrounds. We know there is this barrier between our age groups, and by getting them involved we are breaking down those barriers between the police and many teenagers."

The youngsters range from aspiring officers to those who need a confidence boost or a plug on their CV.

Rhominy Wardrop, 17, of Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, said: "I do want to join the police, so this is a great stepping stone to get some experience and get involved with some community work.

"It has been really interesting getting to use the radios and learning about responding to missing people. We got to try on all the riot gear but not use it, yet.

"Going on I want to volunteer with the Specials and get to uni to study a psychology degree. Ideally I want to get a bit of knowledge about everything they do and improve my social skills and dealing with people in the community."

Connor Smith, 16, from Lydiard Park Academy, said: "The police have done a lot for my family, so I wanted to support them and give something back to the community.

"Eventually I want to be a dog handler, because that way I can get involved a bit more and be the first response to some incidents.

"Before I started here I couldn't get up and talk in school because my social skills were awful. Now I am more confident in talking to people, which is a great step up."

Supt Andrew Carr, head of crime prevention at Wiltshire Police, said: "As I was previously Swindon commander, I am very supportive of this unit and it is really exciting we now have another group of young people going through this process and supporting us at community events.

"It is a great opportunity for young people to get experience of what policing really is. Even if it is just building on their self confidence, that can be really important for their development."