POLICE are tellings stories to schoolchildren to help keep them safe, thanks to a Malvern inspector.

A new scheme sees community support officers visiting primary schools to read stories that contain basic safety advice.

The idea was the brainchild of Malvern’s Inspector Jane Francis, herself a mother of two, who spotted an opportunity to speak directly to children and perhaps also reach their parents.

Insp Francis said: “The idea is that the CSO goes to the schools and reads a little story about not speaking to strangers or being mindful if you find property.

“It’s just a way of engaging with the children and reinforcing the messages the school are putting across on a day-to-day basis.”

Insp Francis said CSOs would read from existing stories featuring popular children’s characters Topsy and Tim but would choose books with simple messages.

Those could be remembering to cross the road safely or what to do if you found something that didn’t belong to you.

Insp Francis said: “There is something almost old-fashioned about it in some respects because kids have grown up with all this wizardry but there’s just something comforting about having a story read to you as a child.”

The scheme started on World Book Day – when CSOs Sally McPherson and Sarah Hide from Upton local policing team went into Hanley Swan CE Primary School to read to the children.

As has become traditional on world book day, many of the children were dressed up as characters from their favourite books.

There is also an underlying policing purpose to talking to even young children which Insp Francis called early intervention.

She said: “We hope the children can engage in meaningful things so when they get a bit older and there is peer pressure we won’t come into contact with them in a negative way.”

The police hope that the scheme will help them reach out to parents.

The children each receive bookmarks carrying the force’s contact details and pictures of the local policing team.

Insp Francis said: “It’s a little memento but with a message on there. If there is a problem and mum and dad don’t know how to contact us they can refer to their bookmark.”

She said the CSOs will now try to visit every school in the district to meet as many children as possible.

Headteacher of Hanley Swan CE Primary School Barbara Wilson said: “We are always looking for ways to link with our community, so an opportunity for the children to meet the community support officers through storytelling was wonderful.

“We used to always have the police into schools and they can’t do that any more. So this is a way of getting them in and it’s so the children can see the police as their friends.It’s also another role model for them. I think on this day they read a story with a moral. I think one of them was about somebody being lost. It was lovely.”