YOUNGSTERS at a special school were treated to a visit from the boys and girls in blue in return for their own trip to Devonport's police station.

The officers from Keyham and Morice Town had been asked to spend time with the children at Mill Ford school in Ernesettle after an unplanned invitation to see Marlborough Street police station.

Neighbourhood beat manager Sergeant David Carney-Haworth said the youngsters had been on a day trip and were passing by the station when he saw them eyeing the police vehicles.

"We invited them in and gave them a guided tour of the cars and what they could do, showing them all the gear and switching on the sirens.

"A couple of weeks later, their teacher, Alison Walker, e-mailed us saying they'd really enjoyed their visit and would we come and visit their school in return.

"So we took the whole team and the Pod, which is regularly used around the area as our mobile police station.

"Loads of the children came out in groups to meet us, have a look at the Pod and we did some rope-throwing exercises where they would pretend they were in a river and needed rescuing.

"Officers are expected to engage with hard-to-reach elements of our community, but there's different types of 'hard-to-reach', where you have to use different skills."

Teacher Alison Walker said: "It's so valuable for the children because they don't have much contact within the community and they learn different aspects of their community."