It was a north-east venture that offered teenagers a taste of life behind the thin blue line.
But the police cadet programme was scrapped shortly after the controversial merging of divisions into Police Scotland.
However, a senior Aberdeen councillor has now written to Scotland’s new police chief urging him to reinstate the cadet scheme.
Liberal Democrat member Martin Greig penned the letter to Chief Constable Philip Gormley calling the 2014 scrapping of the scheme “short-sighted”.
He wrote: “Cadets were, regrettably, abolished recently. This was a short-sighted decision.
“The investment in cadets contributes significant levels of skill and expertise into the police force at the earliest stage of a young person’s career. The reason for abolition of the cadet scheme was not made clear.”
A savings plan published by Police Scotland in March, 2014 showed that the cadet scheme cost around £161,000 a year.
It was replaced by a young volunteer’s scheme (YVS).
But Mr Greig argued that the volunteers were not in the police, unlike the cadets who were trained, drilled and “required to perform a certain level of service”.
When the decision was made the last chief constable of Grampian Police criticised it.
Colin McKerracher said he was “disappointed” and “saddened” that the recruitment programme targeting school-leavers was being phased out.
He added: “I have always championed the scheme and reintroduced it to Grampian in 2004. I was concerned that the average age of new recruits at that time was 29.
Last night, Mr Greig said: “We have to do all we can to stand up for our local police. We have to stand up and fight our corner for our excellent north-east police service.
“Unfortunately, policing in the NE has always been most at risk from centralisation.
“The loss of Grampian cadets is one of the victims of the SNP’s destructive decision in policing.
“Cadets were an extremely valuable resource and would be an ideal counterpart to the Youth Volunteers.
“They have different roles and functions and young people should have as many opportunities as possible to get involved in policing.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “The correspondence has been received and will be responded to in due course.”
