Look out for goodies in hoodies!

AT THIS moment in time with the new coalition Government and a great many of us focused on budget cuts and public sector restraints I felt it was time for a good news story. I really want to share with Journal readers the facts about how safe north Devon is across the board and highlight how fantastic the vast proportion of our youngsters are and the great things they do for themselves and the community.

Figures identify there are nearly 14,000 young people under the age of 19 in Torridge and almost 22,000 in North Devon District area. With a total resident population in the region of 165,000, young people under 19 years account for almost one fifth of us living in North Devon.

With recorded crime at its lowest level in five years and anti-social behaviour down by over 1,300 cases from the position last year I felt it was time to have a look at some of the reasons why. One of the primary reasons for me is the changing behaviour of our young people and their involvement in many and varied positive activities across North Devon.

Some of this is a result of initiatives from the State and partner agencies working closely to achieve goals for young people. A massive and equally important influence however, as you will read later, is due to volunteers across North Devon giving freely of their own time to develop our youngsters and give them opportunities to develop.

Firstly though, concentrating on statutory provision, the Children's Green Paper Every Child Matters (2003) identified five outcomes for children and young people as the necessary components of well-being and gave a clear purpose for closer co-operation between various agencies.

Being healthy; staying safe; enjoying and achieving; making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being provided the new focus and have become central to the programme of change for all children from maternity to age 19, and up to age 25 for those with severe special educational needs

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary is committed to engaging with children and young people to ensure they have the opportunity to lead rewarding and productive lives. It is important to recognise that the majority of young people are not involved in crime or antisocial behaviour and are responsible, law-abiding citizens who make a positive contribution to their community.

A Youth Crime Review conducted by the police in 2007 identified that 23% of detected crimes were committed by young people. Nationally, statistics identify that young people aged 10-17 years commit 32% of recorded crime.

However, it is a minority of young people who become involved in crime and anti-social behaviour, which has a significant and often enduring impact on the quality of life within our communities.

Our Neighbourhood Policing Teams have identified that "young people hanging around" is still one of the highest public concerns around anti-social behaviour.

Our local PACT (Partners and Communities Together) community priorities relating to youth behaviour highlighted priorities for rowdiness, drunkenness and further street problems associated to children and young people. National statistics identify that 60% of anti-social behaviour is attributed to young people aged ten-17 years and 50% of all victims of recorded crime are aged under 18 years.

I must reiterate that the majority of our young people are not involved in crime or anti-social behaviour but are responsible, law-abiding and make a positive contribution to their community.

It is important for the police service, local authorities and other agencies to recognise that there is a 'perception dynamic' working across the generations here. What appears to be an anti-social gathering to some is actually youngsters sticking together for safety and companionship.

As I said, your neighbourhood policing teams, through local PACT consultation processes, have identified that "young people hanging around" is still one of the highest public concerns around anti-social behaviour. In some cases this may reflect anti-social acts, in many others it can be mistrust within communities or between generations that drives fear. Both must be addressed.

In some cases young people are doing exactly what parents and guardians have told them and that is to stick with your friends as a security and safety plan. So, being in a group 'hanging' around is the safest place to be.

To strike the right balance crime and anti-social behaviour must be tackled, not tolerated. The Constabulary and our partners will address such behaviour through the effective application of the youth strategy and associated youth justice policies.

Police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are frequently the first point of contact with families and young people in what can often be traumatic situations and therefore, have a crucial role in the early identification of those children with additional needs not currently met by universal service provision.

A huge amount of this work is undertaken by your neighbourhood policing teams with local authorities and other partners.

In many cases this activity is led by our excellent PCSOs, who engage with children and young people as part of their community in order to build and maintain positive relationships between young people and the police.

We have found there is a disproportionate fear of crime among the wider population and a large majority of this fear is associated with youth crime. Surveys identify that the public believe that 43% of crime is committed by children and young people. The reality is that locally the figure is 15%.

The Play England strategy outlines how we target those who are at risk of offending or re-offending and, with partners, put plans in place to support them in not offending and prevent them from continuing in a life of crime. The strategy steers neighbourhood and youth resources towards children and young persons whose circumstances or behaviour is having a detrimental effect upon their own development or the quality of life of those around them.

Good play and recreational facilities can contribute to a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour and help build communities and tackle social exclusion.

From personal experience outside of my working role in North Devon, I am aware of vast numbers of youngsters in fantastic clubs, societies and groups across our area.

There are four surf life-saving clubs with about 800 young people as active members. If you go to any of our main beaches on club nights or during competition the sheer numbers of them racing around and learning skills to prepare them for future life and protecting their fellow human beings is staggering – they all wear hoodies!

The Scouting movement across North Devon is strong and the commissioners for Torridge and North Devon have over 1,000 young people on their books with more than 100 youngsters on waiting lists as there are just not sufficient adult volunteers to maintain the groups and feed the appetite our youngsters have for the exciting life skills and activities the Scouts get up to — they all wear hoodies!

There are similar numbers of Rainbows, Brownies and Guides doing similar things who include hoodies as an item of uniform.

Our rugby clubs are absolutely teeming with hundreds of budding Johnnies and Jonnos all getting filthy dirty and having a great time without breaking anything or anyone (mostly) – they all wear hoodies!

At the same time there are perhaps even more youngsters playing soccer to varying degrees across the region. All of them out in the fresh air competing and developing as individuals without stealing, fighting, being anti-social and vandalising buildings or property.

In the next field there are young golfers under instruction learning etiquette and lifelong skills for developing into skilful, considerate human beings with a sense of competition against themselves and the challenge of the course.

Add to these the huge numbers who use our athletics track, swimming pools, tennis centres, belong to Sea Cadets, Army Cadets, Air Training Corps and St John Ambulance groups.

What strikes me most about all of these activities is the huge investment of time and energy by the comparatively small number of adult volunteers who give their time and effort often at great personal cost to see the army of youngsters grow and improve as tomorrow's generation to look after us all in old age. Most of the adults in a lot of these arenas also wear hoodies and I have a couple myself!!

As Police Commander for North Devon the magistrates bench has asked me why there are so few cases for the youth bench these days.

I am quite proud to tell them how in North Devon we have one of the lowest 'first time entries' into the criminal justice system for youngsters in the South West.

The Devon and Cornwall police strategy and I personally recognise that the majority of young people are not involved in crime or anti-social behaviour but are responsible law-abiding citizens who make a positive contribution within their communities.

So, when you are next out and about just spot how many goodies wear hoodies!