The Star: March 08, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday March 8 2018 9
careers for migrants
Ms Todd said the
Christchurch programme was
slightly different in the sense
the central city was not back
up-and-running following the
February 22, 2011, earthquake.
The programme decided to
get migrants into community
patrols, which were struggling
to recruit young people.
To join a patrol, migrants
had to have a full driver’s
licence, whereas to be in the
police they needed to be vetted
and have residency, a full
driver’s license and a good
understanding of the English
language.
“The community patrol can
support them and introduce
them to the Kiwi lifestyle and
the Kiwi slang,” Ms Todd said.
Even if some miss out on
joining the police due to strict
rules such as eyesight, the programme
could be a stepping
stone for other jobs, such as
customs or corrections.
“All these Government
departments are wanting
diversity as well.”
Ms Todd said the majority
of migrants wanting help were
Asian or Indian, with others
from Korea, the Philippines or
Brazil.
RECRUITING: Community patrol members go to cultural
events, such as Philippines Day on the weekend, to see if
anyone wants to join.
“These people, a lot are
bilingual and understand the
different cultures.”
She said some just needed
some extra guidance to help
them, whether that be referring
them to language classes
or helping to get their fitness
levels up.
“Some really struggle with
the physical requirements. We
do run an informal weekend
activity sometimes where we
meet to do a 2.4km run, which
is what they have to do.”
Ms Todd said about a third
of the patrol groups were now
made up of young people.
“They’re hard working and
they want to give back to the
community, it’s lovely,” she
said.
“It’s really nice to see them
go on and achieve their goals,”
she said.
Hornby Community Patrol
secretary Ann Smith said the
patrol had grown to about
50 members since the programme
started, many of
which were young.
She said Mr Lahotra was one
of the first migrants to join,
and since then they had people
from Samoa, India, Malaysia
and Fiji.
“A lot of them are very
skilled. We might go to a
meeting at central [police
station] and they can’t get the
presentation going and the
patrollers will have a look and
will say this is what you have
to do.”
Ms Smith said young
migrants had different skills,
which added to those the older
members already had.
“They definitely complement
each other.”
•To find out more about
the community patrol,
email helen.todd@police.
govt.nz
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