Police in Ashfield reach out to the Polish community with new video on social media

The video is part of the Neighbourhood Policing Team’s Hidden Communities Campaign, which aims to improve cooperation with residents who often have had little recent contact with the police.

Specifically the campaign has been launched to reach out to people from Eastern European communities, people with military backgrounds, and people in the LGBT+ community.

PC Malgorzata Kacprzycka, who moved to the UK from Poland ten years ago, has recorded a Polish language video to reach out directly to people in the Polish community and break down some barriers.

She said: “In many eastern European countries such as Poland people’s attitudes to the police are very different. Police officers are often seen as people to be feared rather than to be trusted to help you in a crisis.

"There are various historical reasons for that but these attitudes can be very hard for people to shake-off, even when people move to a different country.

“Policing in the UK is very much based on trust between citizens and police officers and this is something we are working hard to build up in local communities. There are also more basic obstacles to engagement such as the language barrier.

"Helping to break down these barriers is so important because we know that people on these communities are as particular risk of certain types of offences such as people trafficking.

“I wanted to record this short introduction video to help get this message across, and also to show people in all minority communities that the police are not just able to help them with their problems – but that we really do help people and understand the problems they are facing. If somebody doesn’t speak much English then that is something we can overcome with translation services.

"The bottom line for me is that if you live here you can expect the same service from the police as everyone else.”

If you would like to arrange a meeting with the Ashfield Neighbourhood Policing Team about this or any other neighbourhood issue email [email protected].

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