In our latest feature, we hear from some of the newest recruits on your local policing teams.

This week we hear from PC Morgan Younger who is with the Met's South East Command Unit:

When did you decide you wanted to join the police?

I remember, at the leaving assembly in primary school, my class were asked what we wanted to do when they grew up. While everyone else was saying footballer or dancer, I remember standing up and saying I wanted to be a police officer!

READ MORE: Meet new Met recruit PC Chris Corbett

What made you want to join the Met?

I’ve been a police cadet since I was 13 and loved it.

I felt part of something, felt proud to wear the uniform, and really enjoyed the community engagement.

We would help rotary clubs serve Christmas dinners, and I remember talking to older people in residential homes about how to protect themselves from cybercrime.

There was satisfaction in knowing that something I’d done in half an hour could have an impact for good on someone’s life, and I wanted to be able to do that every day.

News Shopper:

How do you think people view the police?

I think some young people can feel intimidated by us, and many people will see us as an authoritarian figure in a uniform.

I suppose I would want those people to know that we will always come if they need us, regardless of how they feel about police.

What’s a difficult part of the job?

It’s hard seeing how things haven’t gone so well for people, and how they’ve ended up in trouble.

I remember speaking to one person who we had to visit and heard how one thing had led to another and they had found themselves in a bad situation.

It’s sad and it can happen to anyone.

Another thing that I find very difficult is seeing how children are groomed into joining gangs and how they’ve got involved in county lines. These are harsh realities to see.

News Shopper:

What’s the best part of the job?

For me it’s community engagement; I love being on foot patrol and talking to people.

I think if you can talk to people they are more likely to report crime or want to help, so by engaging with people you actually help make lives better in the long run.

I always try to leave things, with whoever I’m dealing with, on good terms.

I cannot tell you just how satisfying it is when someone looks you in the eye and says ‘you know what, you’re alright’.

That makes my day.