By CASEY NEILL
COMMUNITY leaders and police are working side-by-side to reach out to troubled youths.
The Police and Youth Leaders Engagement Team (PYLET) program has been running in City of Greater Dandenong and City of Casey for four weeks.
Sergeant Joey Herrech, PYLET co-ordinator and Multicultural Liaison Unit member, said police found too many young people engaging in high-risk behaviours in these areas and wanted to stop them from slipping through the cracks of society.
“We’ve looked around the world to find a best practice model,” he said.
The team researched proactive policing techniques used elsewhere and found one in Blacktown, New South Wales, they could adapt to suit Melbourne’s south east.
Two police officers work side-by-side with two volunteer community youth leaders on targeted patrols of trouble hot spots.
They seek out and engage with young people in a friendly manner, build rapport and seek to identify individual needs and link them to any help they need.
“We want to help with alternatives to the judicial system,” Sgt Herrech said.
“These issues are traditionally dealt with from a punitive view.”
Sgt Herrech said police usually detected youths committing a crime, apprehended them and issued a fine or even locked them up.
“That can exacerbate their situation,” he said.
Sgt Herrech said the team recruited volunteers through ties to reference and community groups.
They’re local leaders from multicultural backgrounds, bound to protect the privacy of those they encounter and identified with a fluorescent yellow safety vest, he said.
“A group of police walking up to a group is an us and them mentality,” Sgt Herrech said.
“Police and a Sudanese guy … that’s our bridge-builder.”
There are six fully-trained volunteers so far, and they visit high-risk locations with police on Friday and Saturday nights.
Sgt Herrick said there was scope for the team to work other weeknights if intelligence indicated their presence would be valuable.
Sundays could also attract a regular patrol during the warmer months, he said.
Sgt Herrech said the team would initially focus on public spaces that had historically drawn police attention, particularly in Cranbourne, Narre Warren, Doveton, Hampton Park, Springvale, Dandenong and Noble Park.
He said he hoped the program would reach out to Pakenham as it expands.
“We hope it will mean police won’t be called out to constantly to deal with youths in trouble hot spots,” he said.
“They can deal with ‘real criminals’ instead of baby-sitting.”
