WMPeople: PC Safyaan Javid, neighbourhood officer

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PC Safyaan Javid initially feared he would never become a police officer due to a speech impediment but his fears were allayed when he met a West Midlands Police officer with a stammer.

Safyaan applied to join the Police Now National Graduate Leadership Programme after graduating university with a degree in Information Communications Technology and a master’s in Engineering Management. He started his WMP career in the summer of 2020.

PC Safyaan Javid, a Police Now recruit currently working in Birmingham East.

Police Now is working in partnership with the Home Office to recruit outstanding officers to the police service, including West Midlands Police, in support of the national Police Uplift programme.

He said: “I initially thought I couldn’t be a police officer because I had a stammer and I thought a lot of police officers probably don’t have a speech impediment. I met a police officer in West Midlands Police who had a slight stammer as well and that really inspired me, I thought if he can be a police officer then I can be too.

“In the past year I have moved across different areas to tackle crime within the community. Each area has its own complexities and challenges and I have been able to develop projects in the community to bring awareness to important issues and proactively reduce crime.”

PC Javid has since become the Faith Forum Lead in Birmingham East, using his four languages to build stronger relationships within the community and working with senior policing staff and faith leaders to secure funding and organise public initiatives.

In this role, Safyaan is working with Muslim faith leaders to set up a forum for Asian women in the community, creating a safe space where victims of crime or domestic violence are supported in developing their careers and job plans. He is also working on ‘Mental Health Mondays’, creating focus groups between members of the public, police officers and faith leaders, with the aim of building a collaborative approach towards crime prevention and crime reduction.

Safyaan added: “I am particularly excited about this piece of work as it takes a new approach to working with the community by shifting the faith forum lead role into the neighbourhood policing team, which I think has real potential. It is so important to push forward with changes like this and, no matter your rank, be brave enough to propose new approaches to policing.”

Police Now has partnered with West Midlands Police for six years and has recruited a total of 172 police constables and 26 detective constables to the force to date, with a further cohort of detectives preparing to start their academy training in March 2022.