As dusk fell this past week, Victoria Police teamed up with youth workers, in a bid to keep the community safe.
They hope the Embedded Youth Outreach Project will benefit the communities involved and help vulnerable young people get their lives back on track and will pair youth workers with police officers as they patrol suburbs, including Wyndham, Hobson’s Bay, and Greater Dandenong.
Superintendent Therese Fitzgerald said the initiative was targeting areas across Melbourne's west that have recently experienced anti-social behaviour.
“We know that the youth service workers have actually got that connection with the young people and the rapport," she said.
Victorian police and youth workers have teamed up to tackle crime. Source: SBS News
She said the $1.7 million state-funded program would better allow police officers to help youths get the services they need to tackle issues such as family breakdowns, unemployment and mental health issues.
“Be it financial, be it counselling, be it mental health, be it drug and alcohol,” Superintendent Fitzgerald said.
Police are treating the discovery of human remains near Taree as suspicious. Source: AAP
Youth worker, Emma Norgate from the Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS), said the partnership would help build a more trusting relationship between law enforcement and offenders.
“The police officer is standing there in a uniform with a gun – that can be quite intimidating, whereas we’re just regular people," she said.
Ahmed Hassan, from Youth Activating Youth, said the outreach project was a welcome move for those working with youth at risk of offending.
“I think this program is going to be hugely successful.”
“This is going to be the driver of a lot of changes with police and how young people and police react to each other.”
The project is just one tool the Victorian Government says it is using in the fight against crime, and has committed to funding the program for the next 12 months.
If successful, the program will be rolled out across the state.
Victoria's Police Minister Lisa Neville. Source: SBS News
The program's leaders have worked closely with community elders to improve engagement, Victoria's Police Minister Lisa Neville said.
“And this is particularly in the Pacific and the South Sudanese communities, we know those elders can play a really significant role in putting that pressure on and creating that sense of community and responsibility," she said.
Already, police say they are seeing positive signs - just a week after the initial roll out.
“We’ve had a young man who’s already been referred to drug and alcohol counselling, his family wasn’t aware of how to assist him," Superintendent Fitzgerald told SBS News.
"So what we hope will happen is we won’t see him come to our attention again, and we’ll really break that cycle of offending.”
