from yaprap June-July 2010
by Garner Clancey
CHD Partners
www.chdpartners.com.au
We frequently hear calls to get tougher on ‘juvenile offenders’ and to do something about the ‘youth crime problem’. Deciding how to respond can be difficult.
Having worked with the NSW Department of Juvenile Justice, the NSW Police Force and having been involved in crime prevention initiatives in numerous areas of NSW, I felt that more could be done to bring key agencies together to develop coordinated plans to address young people’s involvement in crime. By having a coordinated and documented approached, I believe that positive local initiatives can be supported and new working relationships established.
Through my involvement with the Sydney Institute of Criminology (Law School, University of Sydney), we have developed a series of resources for facilitating a youth crime prevention training and planning session. This session includes discussion of local crime trends, identification of priority crimes and their causes, and inter-agency deliberations on the best ways to tackle these issues. Through the course of this session, a plan is developed to respond to key issues, with appropriate agencies taking responsibility for various tasks.
Having developed these resources, I approached YAPA to see if they would be willing to assist in piloting these materials and this session. It was through YAPA that I was contacted by Damian Cooper (Manager, Mountains Youth Services Team). A local youth crime sub-committee was established in the Blue Mountains in 2009. This group was looking for a way of deciding on priorities to be tackled and strategies to be adopted. It was decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to pilot our resources.
On 31 Match 2010, 15 workers from the Blue Mountains came together, including:
- Blue Mountains Police
- Representatives of two local chambers of commerce
- The principal solicitor of the community legal centre
- A local high school principal and senior Department of Education and Training representative
- A Juvenile Justice Officer (NSW Department of Juvenile Justice)
- Members of the Mountains Youth Services Team
- Workers from a local Indigenous program and a youth accommodation service
During the session, a number of key outcomes were agreed upon. Here are just some of them:
- greater involvement of different agencies in outreach work in particular locations
- a safety audit of an identified hot spot
- dissemination of information regarding bail and bail conditions to be distributed to local workers and young people
- the provision of information on local youth services to police issuing cautions to young people
- better sharing of information between various agencies.
Feedback from the participants suggested that the session was largely a success. Here are some of the comments:
- Well done. Excellent day
- A fantastic opportunity to have all relevant services working together
- Excellent. More of it
- All very positive. Focus on planning as opposed to just training is ideal.
More information
Sydney Institute of Criminology