Up Front
Police aid at-riskyouth
In a practical demonstration of the concept,"it takes a village to raise a child," the Royal CaymanIslands Police's Education and Job Placement programmes are helping to steer at-risk young people back to productive lives.
The programmes were developed by of PC MichaelMontaque and PC Ian Lavine, the beat officers for Windsor Parkand Watler's Road.
The Education and Job Placement programmesbegan mid 2000 and cater to persons 17-29 years old. Early indicationsare playing a role in reducing youth violence in the Cayman Islands.
Under the programme, PC Montaque or PCLavine makes an assessment of those youngsters who are havingdifficulty adjusting to societal norms, to determine the rootof the problem.
An assessment of the kind of programme thatwill work for that young person is then done.
For education, participants are placed in computer courses at the Community College.
For Job Placement, the officers contactpotential employers, and provide letters of reference and counseling for young participants .
Upon becoming beat officers, PC Montaqueand PC Lavine quickly ascertained that it would take more thanthe traditional police work "to fix" the situation intheir areas.
"Windsor Park and Watler's Road aresome of the areas that gangs were taking root. They were doingenough to attract police and public attention. Since we developedthese programmes we are finding the situations seem to have dissipated,"said PC Michael Montaque.
Since September 2000, 38 young persons havereceived help to return to college, under the Education programme.
"We found that once these youngsterswere given a second chance to contribute to society they respondedquite well. It has been a challenge as some people have embracedit with open arms and naturally there are some folks, who arereluctant - sometimes it is a struggle. Nevertheless, it has beenencouraging as doors are starting to open for these young people,"said PC Montaque.
PC Montaque and PC Lavine pointed out that they are willing to work with youngsters or young adults in anydistrict that require assistance.
"The emphasis has shifted. We [Police]are more interested in assisting people before they enter thecourts and prison system. We are involved effectively in crimeprevention by putting a more positive spin on what we are doing,"stated PC Lavine.
"We have come to realise it takes morethan just locking up these guys and that these communities werebroken for many years so it will take a long time to rebuild it.
"We go to the root of the problem andtry to find out what has made this young man or woman go off track,"he explained.
PC Montaque noted that community policingis a relatively new concept in the Cayman Islands.
"I believe the emphasis in years tocome will be placed on our department to move the Force and thecommunity forward, in particular to bridge the gap between theyouth population that is going to prison and the working population,"he said.
Z99 FM has aided PC Montague and PC Lavineto raise funds for the programmes and companies such as Cable& Wireless and Hurley's have provided employment.
The officers report that there are fundsto help 75 persons and that they hope to duplicate the programmesin all three islands so that all young people in crisis will getfurther assistance.