Leicestershire Police Cadets boost cyber awareness with Barclays

Leicestershire Police Cadets have completed a specially designed Barclays Digital Eagles programme to build on their digital skills and help to protect themselves and their communities online.

The four-week course was hosted by Tracy Morgan, a Barclays Digital Eagle, to ensure the police cadets could access knowledge which was directly relevant to them and the wider communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Following an initial pilot run by Barclays, Leicestershire Police was one of the first forces to enrol on the programme.

17-year-old Isabel reached the highest level of the programme, proudly earning herself the title of ‘Digital Eagles Mastermind’. She said: “I’ve gained a lot of new knowledge from it and we covered a lot of different topics. The Digital Eagles team put a huge amount of effort into making the experience really fun, which I’m thankful for too. The most useful thing I learned was that expanding on your digital knowledge applies to everyone, of every age, and you can always learn something new to help you.”

The cadets covered topics such as fraud, money mules, cyber security, online vulnerability, how to create a positive digital footprint and more, and will use their new knowledge to not only keep themselves safe online, but members of their communities too.

Police Cadet Lawrence, 14, also reached the highest level of the programme and says the knowledge will help with his BTEC computing course at school. “Digital Eagles gave me a great insight into online security and the online scams that can happen and I learned how to be safe online, especially using passwords that can’t easily be worked out by others.”

Lawrence and Isabel are looking forward to sharing the information they learned with members of their community, especially those who may be more vulnerable online.

Going forwards the police cadets will attend local community cyber safety events, run by Barclays Digital Eagles, to share their knowledge and experience with others.

The Cadet’s training pack was created by Asif Mussa, one of the Digital Eagles, who had this to say about his part in the program: “During the 17 years I’ve worked at Barclays I’ve accumulated knowledge and experience that I’m now able to share with others to support their digital journey. The digital world can at times be intimidating, staying safe and protecting your family online is the main topic of interest for everyone I speak to as part of my role.

“Before joining the Barclays Digital Eagles, I was working within my community to support various cadet groups. After I joined the Eagles, I had the opportunity develop these educational activities on a national level, focusing on key skills that can support the cadets in their duties.

“Much like local and national police forces that deal with pre-emptive education to avoid criminal activity taking place, I believe the Digital Eagles also have the ability, experience and resources to help communities spot potential risks and red flags when it comes to online activity and their finances.”

Police Cadet Toby said he really enjoyed the programme and it’s made him feel a lot safer online. He said: “I liked learning about how to find out how many times my email has been hacked and when, and I now know how to create a strong password. I’ve already shared the online safety information with my family and friends to help them be safer online.”

Another police cadet who enjoyed the programme was Freya, who said: “It was really useful to learn more about internet security and I will spread the knowledge to help people to know what they should and shouldn’t do online.”

To find out more about Leicestershire Police’s Cadet programme please visit www.leics.police.uk/couldyou and to learn more about the Barclays Digital Eagles programme go to www.barclays.co.uk/digital-confidence/eagles.

 

Leicestershire Police will be accepting applications for the police cadet scheme from Monday 2 May until Sunday 22 May. For more information please visit www.leics.police.uk/couldyou.