News

April 2002

Police/Youth Partnerships

Victoria Police Youth Corps

The aim of the Victoria Police Youth Corps is to develop personal skills and good citizenship in young people through a partnership with Police, schools and the community.

In 2001 Victoria Police Youth Corps is actively involved in twenty secondary colleges with four hundred and fifty young people participating.

Year 10 Police Corps students graduated at a special ceremony at the Victoria Police Academy

The program offers young people the opportunity to undertake a two-year school based program with their local police station.

There are five core components to the program:

• The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
• First Aid training
• High Challenge Program
• Curriculum
• Graduation Ceremony

Graduation Camp and Ceremony

To recognise the students' achievements, a 3-day graduation camp and formal graduation ceremony is held at the completion of the program. The ceremony is modeled on a police recruit graduation.

In 2001 there were 180 students representing 12 schools graduating. To accommodate this large number there are two graduation camps and ceremonies.

Chinese Youth Group Partnership

The Asian Specialist Support Unit of the State Crime Operations Command is being supported by a broad cross-section of the Chinese community in the development of a Chinese Youth Group program.

The program is co-coordinated by a number of stakeholders within the Queensland Police Service including Chinese Police Liaison Officers from both the Metropolitan North and Metropolitan South Regions, members of the Queensland Police Citizens Youth Welfare Association, Police Academy, Mounted Unit and the Water Police.

The Chinese Youth Group is a preventative partnership formed to deal with a range of issues, including drug and alcohol use, gambling and general criminal activities.

A number of recreational activities are also incorporated into the project, as are information sessions and seminars intended to assist young people being targeted by criminal elements. They are also provided with strategies should they become victims of crime.

Adventure Camp for African Background Youth

A day of adventure at Woodhouse Scout Camp was the highlight of a unique SAPOL Blue Light Camp held in conjunction with South Australia's African community.

The camp, based at SAPOL's Echunga Training Reserve aimed to give African teenagers, whose families originated from Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe, a clearer insight into the role of police in Australia.

Senior Constable Craig Pfeiffer said that "the camp's purpose was to establish closer ties between the police officers involved (themselves mostly from diverse backgrounds) and the African families that participated, by breaking down ethnic and cultural barriers. It also provided an opportunity for the police officers to gain a better understanding of African culture."

Camp leader Constable Danny Zaloumis said that a key aim of the camp was to address traditional perceptions African people may have about the role of police by encouraging interaction between participants and camp leaders.

"At Woodhouse the students faced a range of challenges aimed at building trust and increasing their confidence and self-esteem. They responded extremely well, tackling the high ropes course, 'leap of faith' trapeze, abseiling tower and flying fox with team spirit and enthusiasm" Constable Zaloumis added.

In the evenings, group discussions, including role reversal exercises between students and camp leaders, further assisted in building positive relationships.

Officer in Charge of SAPOL's Equity and Diversity Branch, Superintendent Fred Trueman, who visited the camp participants on the final evening, said the exercise was an example of SAPOL's commitment to equity and diversity within the community.

He congratulated camp organisers and participants on its success. The camp decidedly provided a positive insight into policing and the role of police officers that the young people and their parents had not previously experienced.

A further camp is being organised for young people from Middle Eastern backgrounds.

African young people and Carlton Police

Senior Constable Eric Strik
Station Youth Officer

As a result of their personal experiences back in their homeland, the perception of police is often very poor and negative. Upon their arrival into Australia, the young people often avoid police, expecting the same treatment as they received in Africa.

Over the last year, members from the Carlton Police Station have observed a large increase in the number of young African people moving into the area, in particular into public housing situated in the Carlton and North Melbourne areas.

In the last census year, young people from the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia & Sudan) amounted to 1267 young people aged between 9 years and 24 years.

Those born in Somalia were by far the largest group of immigrants, making up 45% of the total born in the Horn of Africa region. This has obviously increased since those figures were released.

Many of the young people that have moved into the Carlton area have been forced to seek refuge from outside their own countries. This is due to traumatic civil conflict, droughts, famine and regional wars.

With the increasing African population in the Carlton & North Melbourne area, Station Youth Officers Senior Constable Eric Strik and Nick Parissis undertook to increase the police involvement with local African young people and help to alleviate any negative experiences they may have previously had.

The initial activities planned involved playing the young African people in a range of Indoor Soccer and Volleyball tournaments. These games took place at the Northcote Indoor Soccer Stadium and the Carlton YMCA.

A total of 6 games were played over a two-month period and helped towards breaking down those initial 'barriers' with the young people.

Twelve Carlton police members were involved in this program over the two-month period and really gave the African young people a chance to speak and meet their local police members.

During this two-month period, it became quite obvious that once that initial barrier was broken down, the relationship with the young people improved dramatically.

A program called March Movie Madness followed the Indoor Sports program. This program involved taking the young Africans to the movies each Tuesday night throughout the month of March.

With compliments to Village Roadshow, Imax Cinema and the Carlton Cinema Nova, all tickets were complimentary and involved a total of 80 young people and four police members. This program helped improve our relationship with the young people and in fact the tables have now turned and they have started to approach us to become involved in 'their' programs.

Working the local African community has certainly been an eye opening experience and a steep learning curve. With the ever-increasing numbers of African immigrants coming to live in the area, it is without a doubt that there will be a continuous liaison with police and African young people.

May I warn you, if you are desirous of starting up something in your area, the young people are excellent basketball and soccer players!

NT Police, PEAG and Youth Partnerships

Northern Territory Police and the Police Ethnic Advisory Group (PEAG) share the same values and aspirations when it comes to youth. Both are committed to looking at key issues relating to youth and promoting partnerships with youth.

Since the formation of PEAG in 1998, everyone has shown genuine interest in identifying and addressing issues of concern for youth. Youth has since become a standing agenda item at the PEAG meetings.

The group also agreed to form a youth working group that commenced in late 1999 to look at creating partnerships between NT Police, ethnic communities and youth with the hope of extending partnerships to the rest of the community. A consultative approach has been the preferred process applied in these partnerships.

The working group has been instrumental in holding many youth events since 2000. The group consists of about 18 PEAG members who have volunteered to work very closely with the NT Police Sergeant of Ethnic Affairs. PEAG has also been fortunate to have the voluntary services of Mrs Katherine Yuen who is a qualified personal development and programs.

These youth events have been well received by youths as well as other community groups. The working group intends to have an ongoing consultation with young people on issues and activities that are considered important and of interest to the young people.

The following is a brief summary of youth events and activities held by PEAG:

The Youth Fun Night

This event was sponsored by the NT Office of Youth Affairs and NT Police and has received the strong support of many individuals, community groups and organizations such as the Rotary Club of Darwin as well as the NTU Sports Association, NT sporting and other personalities.

About 70 young people, aged between 13 and 21, attended this event held at the Northern Territory University Sports Association basketball courts.

PEAG members, police and NT Emergency Service volunteers freely gave their time to assist with the event which was a great success. NT sporting, dance and entertainment personalities were invited to assist. The presence of the personalities was aimed at providing role models to encourage active participation from youth as well as to encourage confidence building amongst the young people.

The activities included gymnastics, courtesy of the Police and Citizens Youth Club (PCYC), with former Olympian Leanne Noack who gave an inspirational talk; NT Football League display courtesy of well known NT football coach, Mark Motlap; Sepak Takraw courtesy of NT Sepak Takraw coach Mr Jey Roberts, who coached for the Arafura Games 2001; calisthenics courtesy of Top End Calisthenics; Athletics NT Champion Crystal Attenborough; Young Australian of the Year Kathy Ferringer played the guitar and well-known young talent Pia McElroy sang.

Bamboo Dance (a Filipino traditional dance) by the Filipino Maharlika Association of Palmerston proved to be a success with many young people taking the challenge at the risk of getting trapped between bamboo poles.

Group activities and games were also part of the program to provide opportunities for youth and PEAG members to become familiar and comfortable with each other.

These activities have given young people an opportunity to speak up about their ideas and make contributions to the team. The PEAG working group was given valuable insight on how to build partnerships with young people.

It was definitely the starting point for the group to look at, plan and hold more events and activities in the future. Strong interest was received from youth relating to future activities. Objectives set for the night were successfully achieved.

The Youth Fun Day / Youth Group Structuring

The Youth Fun Day was intended to maintain and enhance the positive interaction established at the Youth Fun Night. The event, which was sponsored by NT Police, was held at the Peter McAulay Centre, Berrimah.

Support and assistance was received from NT sporting associations such as the Volleyball NT, Tennis NT, Basketball NT and Surf Life Saving Society to provide coaching on the day.

• About 50 young people attended and participated, many of whom were participants at the Youth Fun Night.
• PEAG members, Police Recruits and Police from School Based Policing and other areas volunteered their services for the day's events.
• Several expressions of interests were received from youth wanting to get involved in future activities.
• Objectives for the event were achieved.

The objectives were:

• To start to structure the youth group (Executive Team; Members only; Sports Team; Self Development Team, e.g. Music/Choral Group; Community Care Team)
• Maintain the positive interaction amongst youth
• Continue to encourage active participation by youth to identify and discuss issues of importance to them and to address these issues through activities, participation and interaction.
• Establish a mechanism to maintain contact with youth and build on interest shown at this stage.
• Share the vision with youth e.g. "Share the Dreams, Share the Action through youth and community with PEAG and Police"

The Youth Harmony Fun Day

Sponsored by the Office of Ethnic Affairs and with the support of the NT Police, PEAG held this event on 17 March 2001 at the NT Police Recreational Facilities.

It was a day filled with fun, interaction and harmony including volleyball games, harmony wrap on team mates, making giant Harmony Day Cards, preparing Harmony Day sandwiches for other teams and dance from the Kiribati Youth dance group.

Efforts by the young people were recognized by special prizes being awarded to individuals and groups for their outstanding participation. It was indeed a harmonious celebration for everyone with a focus on young people.