The Security Institute Enjoy Successful First Launch of ‘Next Generation in Security’ Initiative at International Security Expo 2018

28 Nov 2018

The Security Institute were thrilled to host a group of 30 Volunteer Police Cadets (VPCs), aged 16 and above from Surrey, Devon and Cornwall, Hertfordshire, City of London and Metropolitan Police at the launch of their first Next Gen initiative on 28^th November – the first day of International Security Expo 2018.

The Security Institute were thrilled to host a group of 30 Volunteer Police Cadets (VPCs), aged 16 and above from Surrey, Devon and Cornwall, Hertfordshire, City of London and Metropolitan Police at the launch of their first Next Gen initiative on 28^th November – the first day of International Security Expo 2018.

Hosted by Rick Mounfield CSyP FSyI, Chief Executive of the Institute, and Paul Barnard MSyI, director of the Institute, the programme was opened in the London Room where the Cadets were seated to watch a short-animated infographic about encouraging young people to think about a future career in security.

Lord Admiral West then addressed the youths about key security issues and how we can all work closely to keep our communities safe. He also had inspirational advice for their future life-choices and potential careers; how aspects of security could be injected into subject areas which they may already be interested, such as computing, engineering or even textiles. He then went on to answer some of the Cadets questions, before handing over to a panel of three practising security professionals; David Gregory of Wilson James, Max Baldry-Steen of FalconDHQ and Stephanie Huxtable of Ward Security.

Three challenges were then given to the Cadets from Paul Barnard MSyI – to design a Next Gen logo; to create some visual content for the Next Gen microsite being developed; and for the most engaged and confident youths to host the programme next year. The winners of these tasks are to be announced at the second roll-out of Next Gen, at SCTX 2019 next March.

The Cadets were then divided into smaller teams and guided around the expo with the VPC Leaders, allowing them to meet exhibitors and other specialists, as well as view demonstrations of some of the security products – all the time logging the experiences which interested them in the specially designed mobile app by FalconDHQ. This data is then used to match the Cadet to a business involved in the initiative, to offer them relevant work experience at a future date.

VPC Kieran, 17 years old from Hertfordshire, said “this has been an amazing day, meeting teams doing vital work to keep us safe. Meeting Admiral West was great, and his answers to our questions gave a lot for us to think about.”

VPC Tia, 16 years old from Devon and Cornwall, said “we had no idea about many of the things we’ve seen today, it’s been really interesting to see brand new technology, fraud prevention and meeting people like the officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. This is what Cadets is all about.”

Paul Barnard MSyI said “I’d like to thank the VPCs who joined us for the first time at this year’s Security Expo event, they were superb! Engaging, motivated, with lots of good questions and ideas – these teenagers were excellent ambassadors for the VPCs and the police service. We really look forward to working together with the VPCs in the future & promoting opportunities for young people within the security industry.”

If you are a business or know of a young person who may want to learn more about the Next Generation in Security initiative, you can contact Paul Barnard on [email protected] or Rick Mounfield on [email protected]

If you are a VPC Leader and think that your unit might be interested in future initiatives, please contact [email protected]