SWINDON has a new bobby on the case in 21-year-old Todd Scanlon.

Todd, who has Down’s Syndrome, volunteers at Gablecross police station for a couple of hours a week and helps officers wash cars and drink tea.

He was taken on by PC Rachel Barnett, of the East neighbourhood policing team (NPT), after she met him at the Salamander project, organised by Wiltshire Fire and Rescue last year.

PC Barnett said she heard Todd had been turned down for another volunteer job and offered to help.

“I thought for his confidence it would be fantastic to get him here as he had been turned down for another post,” she said.

“He washes cars and fold newsletters for us. We’ve viewed CCTV with him to help him learn the sequence of events as they happen through a crime.”

PC Barnett said Todd had passed the normal vetting process and since starting has become a big hit in the office.

She said: “Everyone in the building knows him – they all walk past and say ‘Hi Todd’. He’s always smiling and cracking jokes. And he absolutely loves [PCSO] Matt Dickens.

“I think it’s been really good for him and has boosted his confidence. When I met him at his second Salamander, in the beginning he was quiet but I could see he was growing in confidence a little every day. With a little bit of encouragement he has got so confident in the office – their big leaps are our little steps. He’s one of the team now.”

Meeting Todd also led PC Barnett to organise a 14.5-mile fundraising walk across the Ridgeway last month with 47 participants from the police, fire service and Territorial Army. The money raised went towards the Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group to go on another Salamander course this year.