Smethwick tour ranks as highlight of 2025 for West Midlands cadets
A visit to Smethwick High Street was one of the highlights of the police cadets who accompany the High Sheriff of the West Midlands on their duties.
West Midlands Police cadets dedicate countless hours to learning about policing, gaining new skills, supporting special events, and helping local policing neighbourhood teams reduce crime in their area.
Within the West Midlands there are units across Sandwell, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, a Drum Corps, and seven cadets currently support the High Sheriff.
Throughout the summer, cadets enjoyed supporting large events such as the Coventry Half Marathon, VE Day, VJ Day, Race for Life Birmingham and Solihull, the National Police Dog trials, Armed Forces Day and Birmingham Pride.
A cadet spokesman said: "High Sheriff Cadet Sophia, along with Leaders Kat & Humaira joined The High Sheriff on Smethwick Heritage Trail and saw some amazing places of worship.
"They stopped at the Hindu Temple Durga Bhawan Mandir & Sikh Temple Gurdwara Baba Sang Ji in Smethwick."
Coventry proudly hosted this year’s National Police Memorial Day, honouring officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. Cadets supported the procession as it made its way to Coventry Cathedral for a private service, while the public joined in University Square to view historic police memorabilia.
On the lead up to Christmas, and the festive holidays, cadet units have been working hard to collect donations for those in need.
They’ve collected toys, hygiene products, food, clothes, and raised money for charities like the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre and Birmingham Dogs Home.
Throughout the year cadets have had talks from West Midlands Police departments on topics such as mental health, citizenship, life skills, democracy, internet safety, knife crime and hate crime.
Some units also had inputs on British Sign Language boosting their communication skills for future employment and others learnt all about CPR and first aid from the British Red Cross.
The scheme is made up of young people from across the region aged 13-17 years old. They give time outside of school, and on the weekends, to help make the West Midlands a safer place for all. Our cadet scheme recruits 13-17-year-olds from across the West Midlands. We encourage young people from all walks of life to join us.
If you know a young person who would benefit from being part of the police cadet scheme, head to cadet website to find out more.
This year also saw our cadet leaders rake in award after award. Cadet leader Natalya Fernandez was awarded the Outstanding Cadet Leader for her work with police cadets.
Thomas Hayward also received the Special Recognition Award at this year’s Citizen’s in Policing ceremony. With over 400 hours of volunteering under her belt, June McAuliffe received the honour of Cadet leader of the Year.
Cadet leader Helen Cairns was also awarded runner-up in the Volunteer of the Year award at the force’s Excellence Awards recognising her passion and commitment to the Coventry cadet unit.
The police recruit cadet leaders to help coach and guide our police cadets through the programme. If you’re looking for a new
