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Posted by Dan Lyons on Aug 28, 08 10:07 AM in Clubs/societies

An event organised by a Bedfont police constable to help reassure the public and foster greater community relations has been hailed a great success.

PC Sean McMahon, 36, was joined by colleagues at the Southfields Community Centre, in Southville Road, Bedfont, on Tuesday, August 19.

Along with Noveen Philips, who runs the centre for youngsters aged between 11 and 17, PC McMahon had arranged a community day, bringing police horses, incident response vehicles and even riot buses.

The officers, some of whom are members of the Bedfont Safer Neighbourhoods Team, have been called to the centre to deal with anti-social behaviour on previous occasions.

"We thought the riot buses would make it more interesting as they were big enough to fit lots of kids and have lots of gadgets they could press", said PC McMahon.

The horses, normally used for football matches and major outdoors events such as the Notting Hill Carnival, were also enjoyed by the children.

PC McMahon said the event also served the purpose of reassuring the public with a visible police presence, as well as allowing the children and parents to meet the officers in a friendlier, more informal way.

"The day was a great success", he added. "A few youngsters were very interested and even asked about joining the cadets."

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