CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL / POLICE YOUTH WORK PROJECT
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CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL / POLICE YOUTH
WORK PROJECT
Robin Moore
Christchurch City Council
New Zealand
Paper presented at the
Crime Prevention Conference
convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology and the
Crime Prevention Branch, Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department
and held in Sydney, 12-13 September 2002Background
The Christchurch Youth Work Project began in February 1997 through a partnership between
Christchurch City Council and Christchurch Police. At this time Christchurch City Council provided
funding to three different youth agencies with the understanding that each would employ a youth
worker to work for the agency Monday to Friday and with the Police doing street youth work on
Friday nights. This structure proved problematic and after a review in late 1997 it was decided to
conclude “phase one” of the project and begin again with a new structure in July 1998. The new
arrangement proved successful and remains in place.
Project Objectives
The objective of the project is “to actively promote a decrease in violent and criminal activity
involving young people throughout the city, and to increase positive opportunities available to young
people at risk of offending”. The desired outcomes are “to make Christchurch a safer place for
everyone, particularly young people” and “a decrease in violent and other criminal activity involving
young people throughout the city especially within the Central City”.
Project Structure
The project is co-managed by the Christchurch City Council’s Youth Advocate and the Youth Aid
Co-ordinator, Christchurch Police.
Christchurch City Council pays the salaries of three full time youth workers and is their employer.
The Council funds professional development, professional supervision, vehicles (each has a van),
office equipment, cell phones and so on. As employer, the Council also takes responsibility for
dealing with any employment issues that may arise.
The Christchurch Police provide office accommodation and have a Youth Liaison Officer attached to
the project. This office provides day to day supervision of the Youth Workers, takes part in Friday
night street work, does some case work, and liaises with Police Youth Aid, the Youth Crime Unit,
and other sections of the Police as necessary. This officer also fosters positive relationships between
police and the wider youth work community and is an active member of the Canterbury Youth
Workers’ Collective.
In practice, the project operates with a management team made up of the Youth Advocate, the
Youth Aid Co-ordinator and the Police Youth Liaison Officer. The Liaison Officer meets with the
Youth Workers on a daily basis, providing direct supervision regarding their client workload. In the
first instance the Youth Workers are responsible to the Youth Liaison Officer and regard him as their
Team Leader. There are very open channels of communication between this officer and the two co-
managers and the Youth Workers know that for assistance with case-load matters they go straight to
the Police Liaison Officer and for employment matters they go to the Council’s Youth Advocate.
Should the Youth Liaison Officer be on leave the Youth Aid Sergeant is the key contact for
assistance with day to day work.
Once a month the Youth Workers and the management team get together for lunch followed by a
general update. These meetings are relevant, enjoyable, and keep everyone well informed. Open,
honest communication is valued. Twice a year retreat days are held for the entire team and these
give an opportunity to examine aspects of the project in detail. We celebrate the things that are
going well, and work on solutions for aspects that may require some refinement or change.
2Case-Load Work
From Monday to Thursday the Youth Workers do one to one client work. The clients are referred
by Police Youth Aid Officers and are aged between 12 and 16 years. Typically they have appeared
in the Youth Court two or three times and it is common for them to have significant family issues.
They often appear disconnected from their communities and many have problems within the
education system. When meeting a newly referred client for the first time the Youth Workers make
it clear that the project is affiliated to the police and that if the Youth Workers become aware of
criminal activity undertaken by the client, they will tell the police. Young people with curfews are
told that if the Youth Workers find them in breach of the curfew, they will inform the police. With
this information on board, prospective clients are free to choose whether or not they want the
support of the Youth Worker to make positive changes in their life.
Usually the Youth Workers have no more than five young people with whom they are working in an
intensive manner. Having said that, they do keep in contact with past clients by means of an
occasional phone call or informal meeting.
The emphasis of the casework is to help the young people stay on track. This is not done in isolation
and wherever possible connections are made with the family, the education provider, and a wide
range of services, clubs and agencies within the wider community. Youth workers assist the young
people to access appropriate education or training, become involved in healthy recreational activities,
receive health care (including access to drug and alcohol programmes), receive their entitlements
with regard to benefits, negotiate accommodation they feel happy and safe in, and support them
through Family Group Conferences or Youth Court should this be necessary. They also assist parents
and caregivers to find their way around the maze of government and community agencies that may be able
to help them with parenting (or other issues that are impacting on the client).
Feedback from Clients and Caregivers
The following examples have been taken from an evaluative report done by an independent social
research consultant in May of this year.
“Client Feedback
The client interviewed was a 14 year old Pakeha male who lived with his mother and younger sister.
He had been referred to the project in late 2001 by a Youth Aid Officer because he had “tried to hit
a cop” and because in his words, “she (the YA Officer) could see that I wasn’t all just there”. This
client saw his youth worker, Ian, once or twice per week. Ian normally came and picked him up and
took him to do something and hang out together. The client reported that the worker helped him
when he was in trouble, coming to interviews with him, attending youth court with him (for offences
committed prior to referral), and talked to him, his mother and sister. When asked what he thought
about what Ian did for him, his response was “Primo. There are not many people like him out there.
He’s just a nice guy full stop. I’d trust him with anything.”
The client believed that the youth worker had made a big difference to his behaviour and particularly
his offending. He believed that without the support he had received from Ian, he would still be
stealing cars (he told the researcher that he had totally stopped doing this) and would be a big bum.
He could not think of anything that Ian could do better for him, suggesting that Ian helps in any way
he is asked.
The client felt that the Youth Work Project was cool. He said he saw the workers in town a lot and
felt that the project was going really well.
3Caregiver Feedback
The caregiver interviewed was the Samoan mother of a 16 year old Samoan/Pakeha female. At the
time of referral to the project early in 2001 she was living away from home, but with the support of her
youth worker, Stacey, was now back living at home with her mother, her father, and her siblings.
When referred to the project, the client was also under the support of a CYPF social worker, having
been in a lot of trouble for four years. Her mother could not remember exactly which act had led to
her referral, saying that she was a “rat bag in a lot of trouble with the Police” at that time. Since
her referral to the project, Stacey has worked in closely with CYPF.
The mother interviewed spoke extremely highly of the work that Stacey has done with her daughter
and in supporting the whole family. Prior to Stacey’s contact, the client had been very resistant to
help offered by social workers and the like. Stacey was the first person in a long line of professionals
who had related to the client in a way in which she responded.
“She sees (client) a lot. She’s been great with my daughter. The one from CYPF was hopeless – we
could never get hold of her, but Stacey always comes when she is needed, even in her own time….
Stacey’s the only one my daughter is happy to deal with. Stacey makes her feel different. She takes
her out and spends time with her to make her feel good about herself.”
The caregiver interviewed especially valued the support she and her husband and daughter had
received from the youth worker for the non-judgmental approach which Stacey takes, supporting
them to do the right thing in their role as parents without lecturing them or making them feel as if
things were their fault. She felt that Stacey had made her feel better about her daughter and to see
the good in her when that was getting very hard to do.
In terms of her support for the client, the caregiver reported that Stacey has helped her in every way
that the client and her parents had asked, accessing benefits from WINZ, in getting into training and
finding employment, and helping her return home to live. Stacey attended youth court hearings and
FGCs with the client, and had been instrumental in fast-tracking FGC outcomes such as an alcohol
and drug assessment which had previously been subject to significant delays.
As a result of Stacey’s support, the caregiver reported that her daughter’s self esteem has been
boosted and she has stayed out of trouble with the Police and the court. She felt that her daughter
was a different person because of Stacey’s input and her caring. She also commented that she had
seen Stacey with other young people at the court and she seemed to have a great ability to help
others also.”
Street Work
On Friday nights the three Youth Workers and the Police Youth Liaison Officer undertake patrols in
the Central City, focusing on areas where young people tend to congregate. They will also travel to
suburban areas if things are quiet in town. Sometimes during the week the Council’s Youth
Advocate gets to hear of a particular suburban location that is causing concern. This information is
passed to the team to check out on Friday night should time and circumstances permit. The
information received by the Youth Advocate tends to come via Council channels – parks officers,
and noise control being two examples. Sometimes elected members contact the Youth Advocate
directly when constituents complain about behaviour in a particular area.
4The street work component of the Youth Work Project is often described as the “shop window” of
the project. Whilst out and about on Friday nights the team see young people who are known to
them, and when necessary use their knowledge of these young people and their skill in
communicating with youth to diffuse potentially violent situations.
Each Youth Worker is rostered for Youth Court one day each week specifically to take young
people from the court to their home, school or course. Because of their presence around the Youth
Court, the workers are familiar with young people likely to be in trouble in the Central City either as
an offender or as a victim. The team often identifies those breaking curfew, and a decision as to how
to handle such situations is made by the police officer accompanying them. The team also regularly
picks up intoxicated young people and takes them home. Once at home, every opportunity is taken
to discuss the situation with the parent or caregiver. If the person is too ill to be taken home, they
will take him / her to the hospital.
Feedback on the Project in General
(this is taken directly from an independent report commissioned in May 2002).
Strengths of the Project
A large number of strengths were identified within the project by those interviewed. Strengths most
commonly identified were its excellent, close-knit team, the commitment, personalities, skills and
role clarity of individual team members, the simple and effective management structure and style, and
the culture of encouragement and acknowledgment of excellence which characterizes the project.
Many of the other strengths identified in the project concern the partnership between Christchurch
City Council and Christchurch Police which is at the core of the Youth Work Project.
• Collective responses of Council and Police under the umbrella of the project are much stronger
and more effective than if either party acted on an issue independently.
• The communication which the project facilitates between Council and Police provides useful
information for both parties. For Police, they get to hear about hotspots and problems in the city
which are too low level for them to otherwise come to their attention yet which are still
important. Because the youth workers are familiar with young people who frequently come to
Police notice, they often get to hear about developments in their lives before Police do, and
regularly pass on information of interest to Police Youth Aid officers.
• The involvement of the Police in the project adds authority to the work undertaken, giving the
youth workers the opportunity to be more effective in addressing young people’s offending than
they would otherwise be.
• The project operates in a manner which makes emergency assistance readily accessible to
workers.
• Both Council and Police get a better understanding of issues in the public eye. For example
Washington Park was for some time the focus of attention for apparent violence at the skate
venue. Regular patrols by the youth workers revealed that levels of inappropriate behaviour
were significantly lower than portrayed in the media.
Other strengths identified in the project include the fact that the project works with both male and
female clients and that workers continue to operate as part of the wider youth work scene in the city,
participating actively in youth work forums and in roles such as Board membership of YCD (a youth
organisation based in the Central City).
5Impact
The three Police officers interviewed about the project all believed that it was continuing to show an
impact on offending in the city, and in particular, levels of violence committed by people aged 17 and
under were down including aggravated robbery, as were levels of violence of the type often not
reported to Police. Some of the clients on the project have made big changes to their offending
behaviour since involvement, and where their offending previously was prolific, the changes in even a
few clients have had a big impact on overall levels of youth offending in the city.
Operation
In terms of how the project is operating in general, all of those involved are happy with the way in
which the project is managed, the workload is organised, and the workers supported. Those involved
are clear about their roles, although it was indicated to the researcher that there continue to be a few
individuals within the youth work community of Christchurch who continue to have difficulties
accepting the way in which the project operates. On-going negativity regarding the workers close
association with the Police has been a feature of the project since its first year of operation and
continues despite numerous efforts on the part of all those involved in the project to educate other
youth workers about the project. While this does put stress on the youth workers at times, its impact
on the project is minimal.
Areas for Improvement
When asked how they thought the project could be improved, most of the team reiterated that they
thought the project was running well and doing well at achieving its objectives. Suggestions which
were made regarding improvements to the project included the following:
• On-going effort continues to be needed to let other agencies know about the project and to
counter the negative attitudes which are still harboured within sectors of the youth work scene.
• Several respondents commented about the accommodation provided for the youth workers. The
offices in which the youth workers are accommodated were sold just prior to the preparation of
this progress report, and new accommodation will soon need to be found for the workers. Those
Police involved in managing the project were keen that new accommodation be found with the
Police, while the Youth Advocate saw this as an option alongside housing the workers with
Council. All were keen that new offices bring the Police Youth Liaison Officer and the youth
workers together to reduce their isolation. When asked about this, one of the youth workers was
concerned that housing them in the Police station itself might make workers less accessible to
their client group.
• Several of the team members felt that the project could achieve a lot more if another worker was
on-board, and especially a male Maori youth worker. This was seen as a real gap in the present
project, with the Pakeha male youth workers often limited in their ability to “get through” to
young Maori male clients. A Maori male youth worker was seen as better placed to meet the
needs of some of the client group than the existing workers. Having an extra worker on the
project was also seen as providing better cover for the times when staff members are on leave.
• The Police representatives interviewed all believed that the project could be more effective if
two nights of street work operated instead of the current one night per week.
6Conclusion
All things considered, I believe this is an excellent example of interagency working. Although there
has always been a degree of negativity toward the project by some (certainly not all) of the wider
Youth Work Community, the team feels that they have actually been instrumental in improving
relationships between the two very different cultures of police work and youth work as they
effectively act as a bridge between the two. I expect this project to continue and it is likely that in
the near future another interagency project will be put in place utilising the joint skills and resources
of the Christchurch City Council, the Police and the Department of Child, Youth and Family – watch
this space!
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