This month...Emanuel Candengue Monday, 10 September 08: Latest With Southwark Young Advisor Emanuel Candengue As a young person I would say the Southwark police don’t have a positive relationship with young people due to problems caused by a lack of effective communication, disrespect and misunderstanding on the part of the police themselves. Some young people don’t like the police much, because they have had problems with them in the past. I don’t necessarily think that the police act unprofessionally and I perform as best they can under the circumstances, but I do think that the police need to improve their communication skills, particularly with regard to young people and especially where Stop & Search and young people are concerned. The police do a lot of work with young people, trying to engage them in positive community-building agendas. For example, the police provide support to vulnerable people (including troubled young people) and police students are now working directly with such people to improve relationships and mutual understanding between the two groups. Initiatives likes this encourages a better understanding on the part of the police of young people as individuals. Listening to the views of young people should be at the heart of all youth policy and practice because not only does it improve social programmes, it also builds relationships and common understanding, which is important in working with those people at risk of offending. The previous Mayor, Ken Livingstone, launched the £5 million Young Londoner’s Fund before he left office, as part of a big investment in the capital’s young generation. The fund supports voluntary and community groups who work with London’s teenagers to help them back into education or training, learn new skills and reduce the chances of young people being involved in crime or anti-social behaviour. Working with the Metropolitan Police Service, this increased investment will be strengthened by more than £4 million of additional investment, as part of their new Youth Strategy, to fund a range of projects aimed at engaging young people, tackling youth violence, and preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, and shows that the police are trying to build a closer relationship with London’s young people. By the same token we, as young people, need to do the same and utilise these opportunities to build better and more robust relationships with the police, communication problems or not. EC All blogs represent the personal viewpoints of the writers themselves and do reflect the opinions of LT&RC or it's policies.
Denise Fermor + Terry Bowen + Jacqueline Macauley |
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