A POLICE officer who found national fame on television has visited a North-East school to teach youngsters about staying safe.

PC Paul Jackson, one of the stars of Channel 5’s Police Interceptors, called in at Polam Hall School in Darlington with colleague PC David Brawn as part of a prize won by three pupils.

Polam Hall secondary students Jamie Crook, Amber Fenwick, and Ben Wilkinson won the prize for their outstanding presentation at the Darlington Safeguarding Board’s Young People’s Conference in January.

More than 60 pupils from seven different secondary schools in Darlington attended the conference, which aimed to make young people more aware of how to stay safe.

Jamie said: “Our presentation focused on online safety and the dangers of grooming, particularly on social media and in online games. We chose this because I play a lot of computer games, and you have to be careful because you don’t always know who you’re playing with.”

As well as learning about the role of the police and having their questions answered, the students got the chance to sit in a marked police car, and to have a go with police equipment.

PC Jackson told the students: “The most important thing in life us to have moral courage, to stand up and challenge someone when you see something that isn’t right.”

This particularly resonated with secondary students Amelia Martin and Isabel Shepherd, who are both leaders of Polam Hall’s anti-bullying initiative, and who attended a student training course in Stockton to learn how to help fight bullying in schools. They are now working with Polam’s infant and junior schools to pass on their learning.

It was also a good day for Year 9’s Craig Bell, who hopes to join the force when he leaves school. Craig said: “I’ve watched PC Jackson on Police Interceptors every Monday night for years, and to have him and PC Brawn visit our school has really made my day.”

Head teacher Kate Reid said: “The safety of our pupils is our number one priority and to have the officers come into school really helped to reinforce the message about taking care while online.”