Officers from West Yorkshire Police undertake specialist qualification

The qualification, which is a detailed examination of crime prevention practices aimed at those who provide specialist advice within their role, also provides a stepping stone to the Academy’s Level 5 Diploma in Crime Prevention – Designing Out Crime.

West Yorkshire Police is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5,671 officers serving approximately 2.2 million people living in one of the five metropolitan districts of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield. The physical area of the Force, 780 square miles, contains the West Yorkshire conurbation and a network of motorway and trunk roads which allow easy access to and from other population centres.

The West Yorkshire Force area is very varied, combining busy cities and towns with quiet villages and picturesque rural locations. People are equally varied and represent a diverse range of ethnic cultural and economic backgrounds.

Chief Inspector Chris Matthews of West Yorkshire Police, said: “Our crime prevention officers are trained to help the public, businesses and partner agencies in problem-solving, designing out crime, supporting frontline police officers and developing solutions to local concerns, all with the aim of preventing crime.

“We have crime prevention officers across all five of our districts and based out of our headquarters, and this was a great opportunity for them to share their knowledge and experience, while also working towards a new qualification.”

Speaking on behalf of the Police Crime Prevention Academy (PCPA), the Head of Academy Guy Collyer, said: “The Academy was delighted to have the opportunity to work with West Yorkshire Police to support the delivery of effective neighbourhood crime prevention advice and application of approaches that will help in reducing burglary offences. The delegates brought a wide range of work and personal experiences to the qualification which they can build on with the support of the Academy.”

The Academy is a ProQual approved centre with the exclusive link to the Secured by Design initiative.

The Academy is part of Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, the police owned, non-profit, organisation that works on behalf of the Police Service throughout the UK to deliver a wide range of crime prevention and police demand reduction initiatives. It maintains close working links with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, as well as senior police officers from across the UK, and is the established supplier to the police service for crime prevention learning & development.

The Academy is an established provider of police training offering a local delivery option that significantly reduces costs, as well as providing the flexibility to dovetail content into Continued Professional Development (CPD) and to reflect local issues. It also delivers a number of qualifications to the private sector, working closely with local authorities and relevant specialists such as architects and planners, and offers a number of distance learning qualifications which can be accessed without the need to be away from home or work. The Academy pride itself in keeping the quality of qualifications at a premium and the costs at a minimum.

Further information about the range of qualifications offered by the Academy, can be obtained by visiting https://www.crimepreventionacademy.com/ or emailing