The Police Service of Northern Ireland has unveiled a 10-part podcast, 'PSNI Beyond the Badge', giving the public a chance to hear directly from officers and staff.

The series launched on Wednesday 7 October, and the first episode is available now at psni-beyondthebadge.podbean.com/

Designed to provide a more personal perspective on policing in Northern Ireland, each instalment will explore the people and experiences behind high-profile incidents and everyday challenges, taking listeners beyond the uniform to discuss the realities of modern policing.

Hosted by presenter Lata Sharma, the opening episode is titled 'Policing – In their own words, the officers from the BBC documentary 'Peelers' Part 1' and features Constables Jade and Adam, alongside Sergeant Nigel. In this first of two parts, they reflect on taking part in the BBC programme, how they became involved, and their surprise at the largely positive reaction from across the community. Adam said both "on duty and off duty" the reaction has been "insane" joking even that "no-one wants to work with me anymore as it's a meet-and-greet. Though we wanted to put a human face to what we do." Jade also tells Lata the public "can't believe" what we actually do, while Nigel says "that although there will always be some negativity towards policing, "it's been really positive and there's been a lot of positive feedback". He also speaks about the enthusiasm from student officers in Garnerville following the recent documentary series – and that the overall impact from the recent programme hosted by BBC presenter Stephen Nolan, has been "forceful".

Welcoming the launch, Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: "We're really excited to launch our first-ever podcast series. As we approach the launch of our student officer recruitment campaign in the next few weeks and our 25th Anniversary, we wanted to use this as an opportunity for our officers and staff to tell their stories in their own words so that the public can see that our officers are mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters and members of their local communities.

"It gives us a further opportunity to have a different kind of conversation with communities – one that goes beyond the traditional channels, and will allow us to interact with those involved."

The first episode of 'PSNI Beyond the Badge' is out now, with further episodes set to follow in the coming weeks.