Two officers from the armed policing unit used a day’s leave to speak to students at an East Cambs college on the dangers of carrying knives and firearms.

Ely Standard: Two officers from the armed policing unit used a day’s leave to speak to students at Witchford College on the dangers of carrying knives and firearms. PHOTO: East Cambs PoliceTwo officers from the armed policing unit used a day’s leave to speak to students at Witchford College on the dangers of carrying knives and firearms. PHOTO: East Cambs Police (Image: Archant)

PC Steve Ashton and PS Declan McDonagh spoke about the dangers when they addressed students at Witchford College on Friday.

Sgt Phil Priestley of East Cambs Police said: “Declan and Steve came across to East Cambs on their day off to speak to the pupils at the school and educate them about the dangers of carrying knives, imitation firearms and firearms.”

He said the programme is called ‘What’s the Point?’, and it was written by Steve and Declan in their own time to help reduce incidents of violence involving weapons.

“The hour long session helps young people to understand the risks associated with carrying weapons, and the levels of threat response that the police need to adopt in dealing with such incidents,” said Sgt Priestley.

Year groups 9, 10 and 11 got see firearms up close, including Glock and Desert Eagle pistols and semi automatic firearms including a G36 Heckler and Koch rifle.

Most found it incredibly difficult to tell the difference between the imitations on show, said Sergeant Priestley

“Steve and Declan are tremendous professionals and I know that everyone is grateful to them for taking this time to come and speak to young people in our local schools,” he said.

“They’ve been very generous and we hope to offer the programme to all of the schools across our region in the fullness of time. It’s a very enjoyable learning experience.”