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A group of students from Harris Boys' and Harris Girls' academies in East Dulwich were invited to a “Bridging the Gap” event held by Southwark’s Youth Council at the Damilola Taylor Centre, Peckham.

The event was organised to provide the opportunity for young people to engage and talk honestly with their local police officers on topics such as:

• ​Do you want to find out more about your rights?
• Is there a question you’ve always wanted to ask the Police?
• Would you like to have a say about policing in your area?

Riot gear role play

The students thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and were given the chance to listen about what different officers in the force do, Trident and the statistics on the "stop and search" scheme. The workshops gave students lots of room for questions which the students made full use of.

There were lots of fun and games and the students were given the opportunity to dress up in riot gear (pictured) and role-play a demonstration with wet sponges being thrown at them.

The event also included a police dog seek-and-retrieve demonstration and the chance to meet and question police on mounted horses about their role in the community. The day ended with Deji Gbakinro performing a spoken word piece.

The students thoroughly enjoyed their day engaging with a variety of police officers and said it was a worthwhile and informative day.