THE police have enlisted the help of a crack team of mini crimefighters as they look to stamp out wrongdoing in the town.

Youngsters from Holy Family Catholic Primary School could be slapping tickets on illegally-parked cars in and around the Nythe area in the near future after being handed a special assignment by Swindon South Police.

Brooke Ainscow, 9, is one of the pupils to have been taken on for the next couple of months.

She said: "It’s my first time doing this and I was happy to be picked. I’m looking forward to doing everything with the police.

"I’ve told my mum that I might want to become a police officer but it will be good to see what they do.”

Classmate and fellow nine-year-old Riley Corr added: “I’m looking forward to joining the police because I want to help the community. I’ve got a couple of friends joining me too and it is nice to have someone with me to help.

"It’s my first time meeting any of the police and I think they’re really nice. We might be helping them by making sure people don’t speed and we will litter-pick.”

Swindon South Police picked out 20 children from the school and superintendent Adrian Burt presented their uniforms of a hat and high-vis jacket.

Mayor Kevin Parry went along to the initiation event to welcome the new members.

He said: “It’s about working alongside the communty so they will do things like litter picking, help educate their parents on speeding and parking on double yellow lines. It’s fantastic because this kind of work helps children to communicate with each other.

“With things like stranger danger situations, whilst adults do tell their children it might help to hear it from others their own age. It gives these children values they will have for life and they will help to make a difference.”

Sarah Morland, the parents' support advisor at the school, hosted the event to introduce the new members of the force.

She said: “The superintendent came to the school and met the students that applied. They were sworn in to the police and they will be meeting once a week with myself and some members of the force and we will help in community matters.

“It’s extremely important for them to get involved, we already have a couple of children who want to be police officers when they grow up so it’s a bit like work experience for them. It can help to give them a sense of responsibility in the place that they live.”