Okehampton Police relaunched the Okehampton police cadets last week (September 20) to improve their relationship with young people and tackle anti-social behaviour.

Youth engagement officer Matt Young is leading the initiative for children aged 13-17 which he hopes will improve young people’s perception of the police and prevent anti-social behaviour as well as offering a variety of activities to enjoy.

He said: ‘It’s about better decision-making for young people, joining a youth group is a step in the right direction. If they are at a loss of what to do they can congregate together in parks and towns and cause trouble.’

Matt Young has also voiced hopes that the new cadet group will continue to maintain good relationships with the police once children progress from the Mini Police cadets for children aged eight to 11.

He added: ‘I look after the Mini Police for our primary schools. We need to start young and hopefully as they progress we have painted the police in a positive light. On Remembrance Day, I’m really keen to get the youth groups together to show residents in the town that there are young people doing the right thing.’

Okehampton has recently suffered a bout of anti-social behaviour which has resulted in damage to public property in the park and town and disrupted residents.

To tackle the problem, Okehampton Town Council has installed more CCTV cameras in the park and other areas of the town which has helped the police successfully identity the culprits of some of the vandalism. Most recently, the people responsible for the destruction of the town’s book swap have been identified and dealt with by police.

The new police cadets group will be held at the police station every Tuesday from 6:30-8:30pm and is open for any teenager to join.