Dispatch district kids part of police scheme using basketball to build bonds with young people

About 100 young players from 10 different community groups across the county, including Top Valley, were invited to the sports hall at Nottinghamshire Police’s headquarters for a day of back-to-back game

Officers even took to the court themselves in a bid to build stronger relationships between the force and the next generation.

The TipOff@3 initiative follows hot on the heels of Nottinghamshire Police’s KickOff@3 event in May, which used football to positively engage with young people.

Sergeant Jemma Connor-Iommi, who is leading the initiative on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Sport is so good at building relationships because it makes you feel worthy and gives you opportunities to succeed and be part of something, whatever that may be.

“TipOff@3 is all about using the power of sport as a tool to build trust with communities who may feel like it’s them against the police.

“We obviously don’t want people to feel that way, so we’re determined to break down those barriers and show them that police officers are normal people too.

“What we’re trying to do is build that trust and confidence which is lacking with young people towards the police up and down the country at the moment.

"KickOff@3 allowed us to build up some positive momentum and it's so important we keep that going, and events like this can go a long way to breaking down those barriers, one step at a time."

Sgt Connor-Iommi, a former international footballer herself, is keen to make sure the force makes the most of this opportunity to positively engage with the community.

And she feels the force opening its doors and inviting youngsters to use the brand-new facilities inside its headquarters at Sherwood Lodge will help build this trust.

She said: “You wouldn’t believe how flabbergasted some of these young people were that we’re allowing them into our new building to play basketball.

“They can’t believe they’re actually being invited into a police station.

"That’s the way they feel, that we don’t include them in stuff we do, so that’s what we’re trying to change.

“Opening our facilities for youngsters to play has allowed us to reach a whole new group of people as well. A lot of these lads aren’t the ones that took part in the football tournament, so this is giving us the opportunity to build those relationships with more people, which is fantastic.

“The purpose of this initiative is building that trust, which is why our officers are getting involved and playing as well, so we can show these youngsters that, yes, we are police officers, but we are real people too and we want to engage with them.”