Young police cadets from Seale-Hayne had an arresting time on Wednesday. The 20 police trainees from were freed from the classroom to put their lessons to practical use in the streets of Chudleigh. 'This is the first time this group has put on their helmets and walked the streets,' said Sergeant Nick Glynn, who designed the Devon and Cornwall police training course. Local police forces are now responsible for training their own recruits. Candidates receive 22 weeks of training, and the group in Chudleigh has just completed seven weeks in the classroom. The procedure in Chudleigh was kept secret from the trainees, who turned up uncertain of what they would face. Seven different scenarios were set up in the Chudleigh streets, each dealing with a different area of policing. These included taking a report of a crime, stopping and searching a suspect and dealing with lost and found items. Actors from Exeter College played all the scenario roles, and senior police officers assessed the performance of the trainees. 'You handled that well,' said an assessor to a pair of cadets. 'We are asking for feedback from Chudleigh residents, who are welcome to watch the training sessions,' said Sgt Glynn. 'We hope that the towns where we train will enjoy watching our methods. It will bring a large police presence to different towns across Devon and Cornwall.' At least one Chudleigh resident benefited from the training day – cadets found and returned their lost car keys. The police will continue to use Seale-Hayne as a training college until November 2007. Seale-Hayne was an agricultural college, part of the University of Plymouth, until July 2005, when it was closed despite local protest. The police took over the campus to use as a training college while their own premises near Middlemoor in Exeter were refurbished. 'The work will now take longer than was planned,' said Sgt Glynn: 'So it's very convenient that we can stay at Seale-Hayne for a little longer.'
