Police Crime Prevention Academy qualifications 'to make communities safer' on course to start in September

The qualifications are for Police Forces and other organisations seeking to reduce crime and make communities safer.

They are being provided by the UK’s Police Crime Prevention Academy, a new venture from Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, which trades as Secured by Design, the national police crime prevention initiative.

The Academy is an Approved Centre for the awarding body, ProQual, and is able to deliver Ofqual regulated qualifications. The Academy has developed these courses after taking over delivery under an agreement from the College of Policing last year.

The qualifications start from Monday, 3 September 2018.

They cover initial learning modules on safeguarding and problem-solving and move on to more specialist subjects and qualifications, such as the Level 5 Diploma in Crime Prevention – Designing Out Crime.

The qualifications will provide structured learning opportunities for roles within the Police Service and other public sector organisations that have a statutory duty around crime and disorder reduction. These include Local Authority departments, Community Safety Partnerships and Probation services.

They are also relevant to Fire and Rescue and Health services as well as private sector businesses involved in delivering safer communities. These include security staff and managers, retail staff, architects, design students and many others.

Guy Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer, Secured by Design, said: “Employers are increasingly only willing to invest in learning and development that provides a formally recognised and portable qualification that adds value to the organisation.”

The courses, content and target audiences are listed as follows:

Level 5: Diploma in Crime Prevention – Designing Out Crime
Duration: Ten days guided learning plus completion of preliminary course work and an assessed post-course portfolio.
Course content: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles and practice; understanding the planning process, laws and procedures; roles involved in the planning and design process; analysis of the built environment products, their standards and use; evaluation of the key elements that prevent and promote crime opportunities; and making effective recommendations for changes to the built or planned environment.
Relevant for: Experienced Designing Out Crime Officers, or others in the Police Service, who have the same specialisms as for Level 4. This level provides the most advanced learning for other organisations, such as Local Authority planners, architects and designers.

Level 4: Certificate in Crime Prevention for Practitioners
Duration: Ten days guided learning plus completion of preliminary course work and an assessed post-course portfolio.
Course content: Situation crime awareness, offender behaviour and identification of vulnerable victims; applying crime prevention tools and techniques; implementing a multi-agency structured problem-solving approach; understanding security product standards and application; security site surveying, reporting procedures and cost planning; and action planning for crime reduction and prevention projects.
Relevant for: Police roles, such as Crime Prevention Officers or similar, who have crime prevention, harm reduction or vulnerable victim protection as their specialism, Local Authorities, security and safety specialists and Community Safety Partnerships.

Level 3: Award in Introduction to Crime Prevention
Duration: Three days guided learning plus completion of preliminary course work and an assessed post-course workbook.
Course content: Crime science; benefits of crime prevention; problem-solving; security products; and basic site security surveying skills.
Relevant for: Police, such as Police Community Support Officers and Neighbourhood Policing Teams who give basic crime prevention advice. It may also benefit senior officers who have little working knowledge of crime prevention, other partner agencies, small businesses and those involved in making their local communities safer.

The Police Crime Prevention Academy will be offering the following Award as a stand-alone accredited and portable qualification:

Level 2: Award in Understanding the PREVENT and Safeguarding Strategies
Duration: Distance learning of ten hours including completion of an assessed workbook.
Course content for Radicalisation Awareness: The aim of the PREVENT Strategy; the roles and responsibilities of adults in relation to the safeguarding of children and young people; understanding the factors that influence vulnerability to radicalisation; being able to recognise the signs of radicalisation; understanding the role that social media plays in radicalisation.
Course content for Safeguarding Children and Young People: Understanding individual responsibilities regarding the safeguarding of children and young people; being able to recognise indicators of abuse; understanding the effect of cyber crime/online bullying on children and young people; understanding the process of the disclosing of safeguarding issues; understanding how to reduce the risk of cyber crime/online bullying.
Relevant for: Police and partner agencies where individuals have a responsibility for identifying radicalisation and safeguarding issues in relation to vulnerable people.

Contact us today to find out more about availability and costs on the following email: 

About Secured by Design
Secured by Design works alongside the Police Service throughout the UK to achieve sustainable reductions in crime through design and other approaches to help people live in a safer society. Established in 1989, we believe we are the world’s most successful crime prevention initiative.