The Chron investigates how police are making a special effort to engage with area’s youths
A kickboxing grading and graduation ceremony at St David's Church Hall, the free sessions are run by PC Junior Anderson.
Once a young person has been arrested for a crime you might think that the police’s role in the situation would be finished, but for Pc Steven Howes, who works for Northampton’s youth offending team, it only just begins.
“My specific role deals with offenders who are being dealt with pre-court, so have not been in the court system yet,” said Pc Howes.
“We work with the young person going into the court system to try and stop further offending.
“Sometimes it may be a one-off offence, for example something like cannabis possession, and we would talk to them about the consequences of further offending or substance abuse.
“If it involves an assault, we can look at things like a program of work based around anger management.
“How we work with them is very much generated by their behaviour, their circumstances and the crime.
“We work with the age range of 10 to 17-years-old, but we find we are normally working with 15 to 16-year-olds.
“One way we can work with young offenders is to look at victims of crime with them,
“We can read back victim’s statements to them and we can get young people to write letters of apology, although these will not necessarily be sent.
“We can get them to write down what they have done and how they feel about it.
“Whether or not they are more likely to re-offend again depends on the individual young person, but the earlier we get involved the better; prevention is key.
“Getting to them before they get into the court system is important, before it becomes a way of life.
“We will always try to get them back into the community.”
However, Pc Howes says it can be hard to make people see when a young person has changed.
“I have been dealing with one specific young person in the Eastern District, who to my knowledge has not re-offended at all, but he has still been targeted by the community who know he’s a burglar.
“So it can be hard for these young people to shake that off; but he’s done his time and he’s made some really big efforts to move on, and acknowledging this can help stop offenders drifting back into offending.”
There are many reasons why a young person may be drawn into crime, but Pc Howes says peer pressure can be a major problem.
“A lot of the kids we see are from broken families and are not necessarily getting that support at home and they are out on the streets and become attached to groups of kids.
“Sometimes the police officers will work to try and get the young person away from that group of friends, but when they are almost like family it can be hard, and we are often trying to get through to each one,” he said.
“There is definitely more youth offending in deprived areas.
“For a start you have a higher concentration of people in those area, so more families on a low income or living off benefits, and there are more kids who are wandering the streets.”
The team also work with other partners in the county if the young person is found to have other problems.
“There can be other issues involved with youth offending and we will work with CAN and the community psychiatric nurse and others,” said Pc Howes.
“A lot of the time there are other issues involved so it is vital we work with different agencies to address specific needs.”
Reaching Out To The Young
IT is not just when young people get into trouble that Northamptonshire Police get involved.
A number of schemes have been run by police in the county to reach out to youngsters, and this looks to be rolled out even further in the future.
“Working on youth engagement is something we are looking at doing more of in the force,” said Insp Vaughan Clarke who is working on a local strategy for a youth engagement plan.
“The force as a whole doesn’t have a youth engagement plan, this is a local initiative.
“We have been involved in a lot of successful youth work in the past, and there is all sorts of sorts of good youth work going on in the county now, and we have a very good relationship with the education authority.
“We are looking at taking this further.”
One of the projects Insp Clarke has been particularly impressed with, is the Jam Project in Corby.
Part of the project ‘Jam in the Hood’, a 10-week project which sees young people working with safer community team officers, led by Sgt Julie Mead and youth development officer Ann-Marie Lawson from Groundwork, looks to be taken up in other areas including Northampton.
The project involves letting a group of young people take a closer look at how the police work, including visits to several police departments, such as the helicopter unit, the firearms range and the dog section.
“Part of the project was to work to change negative perceptions of young people within the local community,” said Sgt Mead.
“The team all wear purple Jam in the Hood tops, and spend time in the community talking to neighbourhoods about any problems that concern them about where they live.”
More than 250 homes in the town received crime prevention literature from the JAM team during the project, which also gained funding from the ‘proceeds of crime act’ to buy crime prevention devices, to give as gifts to vulnerable members of the community.
Each of the young people received certificates for their own specific achievements after taking part in the course.
“The project gives them key skills for life, but it also helps to built relationships between the generations in the community,” said Sgt Mead.
Another successful youth project already running in Northampton is the police cadet scheme.
Launched last June, the scheme that is run by police volunteers, was launched in partnership with Northampton College, taking on teenagers at the age of 16.
As well as gaining an insight into police work, cadets also do a BTEC Level 2 qualification in public services.
Yvonne Mason, volunteer cadet leader, said: “We had 21 recruits in the first round and now there are 130 on the waiting list.
“We work on a whole range of things with them; we had a summer camp, we have done team building activities, they learn about public services, team working and career planning.
“We also work on things like health and fitness, and nutrition.
“We have fitness tests every six weeks... we are looking at improving fitness, we are not expecting them to be at marathon standard.
“It is quite strict and we expect them to show respect.
“It is also a good opportunity to give them an insight into showing them how much community engagement and dealing with the public the police do.
“It shows policing as it is, rather than what they see on the TV.
“They wear a uniform and we have a drill, where it is inspected.
“It is not about training to get into the police force, the idea really is for us to engage with young people and give young people the chance to understand what policing is like and bring some discipline into their lives.
“We try and give them quite a lot of responsibility and give them opportunities to show their skills and strength, one of the main things we want to give them is confidence.”
Northampton police officers have also used kickboxing as way to reach out to youngsters. Pc Junior Anderson from the Northampton North Safer Community Team (SCT) started a kickboxing club in his local beat for anyone over the age of five. One of the aims of the class was to tackle issues of anti-social behaviour around Kingsthorpe front and Newnham Road.
He said: “The classes provide a fun activity for young members of the community who might not have much else to do on a Friday night.”
To find out more about Northamptonshire Police’s youth projects visit: www.northants.police.uk.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Woman’s body found after ‘suicide’ in Northampton hotel room
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Exclusive: PM David Cameron says Northamptonshire Police Commissioner role is “a big job for a big local figure”
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.