THE BOROUGH’S new Youth Engagement Sergeant wants young people to be up front with police about the issues that matter to them.

Sergeant Marion Kent was appointed to the new role in the summer and chaired the first meeting of a new youth panel earlier this month where she met with student representatives from eight of the borough’s secondary schools.

The 44-year-old, who previously headed up the Roding Safer Neighbourhood Team, oversees six safer schools officers and three Police Community Safety Officers (PCSOs) as part of her new role.

But it is at the new Redbridge Police Youth Panel where she hopes to take the pulse of the borough’s young people.

She explained: “I want to use the panel as a litmus test for the things we are trying to do.

“I’m hoping that rather than just throw out what we as adults think is appropriate we can start to listen to what young people want.”

While Sergeant Kent was appointed to the role before the August disturbances, she admits that those events have brought her new role into sharp focus.

But she added: “Only a quarter of the people charged as a result of the disturbances are under the age of 18.

“I made it clear to the young people at our first meeting that I don’t see them as a problem, I see them as part of the solution.

“I said to them that I want them to challenge the police and tell me what they really feel, not just what they think I want to hear.”

She says the teenagers told her they wanted more access to the police and a better understanding of police powers, particularly surrounding stop and search.

And as a result, police will be going into the borough’s schools to make presentations on the issues raised by students.

But while she says she is impressed by the enthusiasm of the student representatives on the panel, Sergeant Kent also wants to involve young people who have gone down the wrong path in the past.

She said: “My role is very closely linked with the local youth offending service and it’s very important that those young people (former offenders) are included and they will be invited to attend our forums.

“I hope that they are able to inform us of what would have made a difference to them, but I also want to offer them support in finding education and community contacts as well as give them the opportunity to engage with other young people.”

SIX QUESTIONS FOR MARION KENT

• What were your ambitions as a child?

I have been a police officer for 25 years, but I didn’t always want to be in the police.

I didn’t know what I wanted to be as a child, and I think that’s a position whicha lot of young people find themselves in.

• What is your earliest memory?

My first memory is seeing Father Christmas through the window at home when I was very young.

I can’t even remember how old I was to be honest. I’m not sure who was in the Father Christmas outfit either.

I think it might have been someone from the Rotary Club.

• What scares you?

Big spiders! I don’t mind the little ones. But if I see one which is bigger than the hole you can make by holding your thumb and index finger together then I don’t like it and I don’t want to go anywhere near it.

• What is your favourite type of music?

I like what I believe they call alternative rock.

I’m a big fan of the band Keane. I saw them in concert at Alexandra Palace a few years ago and they were really good.

When I’m in the car I tend to listen to the radio.

• What's the one thing you would want with you if you were abandoned on a desert island?

Someone told me I should take a speedboat with me so I could get off the island, but I don’t like boats.

I would have to take my family. They are the most important thing to me so I would want them with me.

• First job

That was in 1984. I got a job on the deli counter at Woolworths. No-one ever believes there was a deli at Woolworths, but there was at the one where I worked.

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