Merseyside Police have joined forces with the NSPCC's Childline service to support young people in crisis. The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the country, aims to support young people who come into police custody suites with totally independent and confidential help and advice.
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00:00 Young people who find themselves in custody will now be offered a call to Childline, where
00:06 experienced counsellors will offer them advice and support in a confidential setting. In
00:10 addition to the call, they are still offered a solicitor. The initiative will essentially
00:15 act as a pilot as it is the first of its kind in the country.
00:19 We offer all the support in the world to young people coming through custody. The police
00:22 offer it, mental health, medical, all sorts of different support. We're aware that these
00:28 young people coming through custody are sometimes victims themselves, although they're committing
00:33 crimes they're doing it under coercion, they're part of criminal activity, county lines. Because
00:39 of that they're sometimes more afraid of the criminals they're dealing with as opposed
00:44 to the police. Because of that they won't accept any of our support.
00:48 The idea came from Deborah Rigby, a retired Merseyside police officer who's now a supervisor
00:53 at Childline in Liverpool. Through her work she could see many young people who come into
00:58 custody would benefit from the support Childline offers. Deborah approached Merseyside police
01:03 and they began to work together to make the idea a reality.
01:07 The counsellors are highly skilled in just being there for that young person, empathising
01:13 with what they're going through and signposting them where it's appropriate. We often talk
01:19 to young people about helping them consider in terms of their options and what's going
01:23 on for them, what might be the consequences so they can make an informed decision about
01:28 what they want to do next, potentially when they go out of the custody suite what might
01:32 be some decisions or choices that they've got.
01:35 When a young person comes into custody they're offered support but do not always take it
01:39 because the offer has come from the police. This often results in young people being released
01:43 without receiving additional support they may need and then re-offending, beginning
01:48 the cycle again. Their concerns are if they get the police,
01:51 they might go to social services and get their families involved which then they may be concerned
01:56 the criminal gangs may find out. Having Childline offering that support, that
02:00 although they may not take the Childline telephone call in custody, they may walk away and start
02:07 looking into it and this way it builds their confidence up. Childline will work with them
02:12 and give them the power to hopefully break the cycle.
02:15 In the last six months Merseyside Police have seen 787 young people come into custody and
02:22 the service has the potential to make a real difference to many young people's lives and
02:28 put them back on the right path. We are always recruiting, we open our arms
02:33 to applications and we think it's a really rewarding experience and our volunteers tell
02:39 us that, that they get a lot out of being here and if they can just go home feeling
02:43 they've listened to and supported one young person in the time they're here, it's a really
02:49 uplifting and valuable feeling. By offering a confidential call to Childline
02:54 while in custody it may result in that young person accepting support and providing the
02:59 first step towards breaking the cycle of re-offending.