2012-11 - New Zealand Police Association

Featurethe wayConstable Marc Kiely, of LowerHutt road police, who joined in lastmonth’s Trentham camp, says: “Youcan’t ask them to do things if you’renot prepared to do them, too.”The beauty of the policeparticipation is that by the end ofthe week, the kids don’t see them as“cops”, but as ordinary people, partof the group. “They find out theyare human beings,” says Neil.Hamish says that how much ayoung person gets out the courseis up to the individual, but allthe participants take somethingpositive away with them. From hispoint of view, they are certainlyeasier to talk to afterwards.As for quantifying the outcomes,it’s mostly anecdotal, but Hamishcites the case of one 16 year old hereferred to the course who went onto become head boy at his school.Programme mentor Wayne says it“unequivocally makes a difference– police officers on the ground cansee that”. One of the key factors is toextend the contact built up duringthe camps. The officers are expectedto keep in touch with the kids andtheir families through phone callsand visits.It’s a one-shot chance for thekids, with only one camp offeredper child, but, as a testament to thecamps’ success, there are repeatedrequests to come back.Senior Constable Warren Sloss,from Napier, who is on the BlueLight national executive, attendedhis first camp last month. Hesaid it was obvious that youngpeople responded well to havingboundaries and that the campsfitted in well with the PolicePrevention First model.Such matters would have beenfar from the minds of the threeboys from the Trentham campwho padded over, dripping wet,after a session in the Police Collegeswimming pool, to tell Police Newswhat they thought of the camp onday two.They all agreed that the first daywas hard – another boy had evenpacked it in because he found ittoo much – and the two-minuteshowers were tough, too, but noone could argue with “learning”time in the pool. That includedswimming skills, life-saving andinflating a pair of trousers to act asa buoyancy aid.Jordan, 14, said he thought thecamp would help him get a betterattitude. Caleb, 13, admitted thatsometimes he did need a bit ofdiscipline. Pearce, 14, smiled a lot.And one way to a lad’s heart thatseemed to be hitting the spot wasthe food – they all agreed it wasfantastic. At the formal ceremony tomark the end of the camp, the boysSenior ConstableWarren Sloss, top, withthe group, and above,giving top studentDmitry Wright hiscertificate at the end ofthe camp. Photos: NEILNORMANwore T-shirts with the slogan, “Isurvived the Blue Light experience.”For one in particular, Junior Leti,16, from Porirua College, who wasnamed as “most improved”, the daybrought special reward when someof his college mates turned up tosee him complete the course. Juniorsaid he’d learnt that you have toget to know people, especially cops,before you judge them.For more informationon Blue Light and its lifeskills courses for 2013,visit the website,www.bluelight.co.nz.new zealand police aSSOCIATION november 2012 263