You have organised an aerosol art workshop at the Youth Centre. Lots of local young people have turned up to participate, and it's a great opportunity to engage with some of the more at-risk young people in your area. Everyone is happy.
Then a local policewoman, who is on your management committee, arrives. You are pleased to see her there, especially because of the history of poor relations between your agency and the local police, which you have worked hard to improve.
During the workshop you notice the policewoman taking young people aside one at a time. When you ask if everything is OK, she tells you that there has been some petty theft in the area and she's asking questions to work out who's responsible.
What would you do?
I would tell her that she has a conflict of interest (which would be described in her portfolio as a committee member) and ask her to leave. I would inform her that it would be more suitable to send a unit that are not involved in the operations of the center, and request that they phone before arriving so that the center can properly facilitate their activity.
ReplyDeleteI would then continue to hate the way my committee think they can just do whatever they want...
I agree.
ReplyDeleteThere's a time and a place and due policy / process must be followed. There is every right to question young people with reasonable doubt but the appropriate time and place should be maintained. The program is to build relations not destroy right?
At the same time I do understand how difficult it can be for cops to not make use of an opportunity considering how time poor they are with all the process / paper work they have to do anyway to then have to do some PA work on top of that when you have governments on your back going get crime % down and police work that bring arrest oucomes up.
The big picture.
I would pull her aside for a quiet word and definately remind her about conflict of interest!
ReplyDeleteI would also feel obliged to have a discussion about youth culture with her and the fact that aersol art is a legitimate art form & that if you are an areosol artist you are not necessarily a criminal HELLO!
Good luck....be realistic. If she is doing it she won’t be listening to you! She will (if you pull her aside) grow a very painful grudge against you, and possibly conspire against you. I would look for other alternatives to curb the behaviour, like bringing up in a committee meeting discussion around conflict of interest and maybe quote some case law to ward her off. Be political, not foolish.
ReplyDeleteYAPA knows of a few youth centres who have developed protocols with the local police around this stuff. If you are happy to share your protocol, or tell us how it has worked in practice, please post a comment (anonymously if you wish) or contact Nick at YAPA.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to remind the officer that this activity is to help build relationships between young people and the community including law enforcement. i would pull the officer quietly to one side to reminder her that relations between the police and the young people have been poor in the past and gathering information this way is unproductive and undermined any progress that might be made if they see police in a positive light.
ReplyDeleteafter this i also hold an information sessions for young people and their rights with police
Youth don't like seeing the police anyway and if this police officer is going to continue doing this at an event the rapport that you have built with the youth is going to decline. I would quietly ask the officer to stop doing what she doing and make her aware of how hard it is to get the youth along to these kinds of activities.
ReplyDeleteI would also suggest that she ran an information day about how the police are here to help the youth in situation and how they could go about giving information to them anonymously, this could be done through the youth service. Like Eliza said you should make to youth aware of what information they have to tell the police, this could be done by either a workshop or as an activity within the youth centre.
I would ask the policeperson to come aside so we can talk in privite.Were i would kindy dissuss that this is not the place to conduct any bussness on any other matters apart from the resion that we are here due to rights of the youth in my care. I would make it clear that i am not their leagal parant/carer and the policeperson would have to make fether arrangements. I would invite the policeperson to stay and continue the activities with the group.
ReplyDeleteI would ask her if you could have a quite word with her and let her know that it’s fantastic to see her there but maybe this is the wrong time for this type of questioning to be happening. That with this happening the young people that you are trying to engage with may see this as a put down and being attacked and you’re trying to build rapport with them not scare them away maybe you could set up a time for this to happen, and follow your PP when doing this. They have rights to and this need to be done right or there will be consequences of more of a break down then building the relationships.
ReplyDeleteThere is a time and a place for everything. Young people will pick up on things really quick and word would get around even quicker if they think they have been set up. This would cause a credibility problem within the youth centre. I also think that parents and carers would not be happy that they were not informed or involved in the pending investigation. Apart from that there are legal issues with unrepresented young people. So to keep everyone happy I would ask the policewoman to stop being an officer of the law for the time being and enjoy the artwork that is being made after all that is what the day is all about.
ReplyDeletethis would be a hard one especially for the police officer,it would be a fine line between being on the committee and doing her job .While saying this the kids are there to feel safe and be involved in something organised legally .Iwould ask her to please leave and to send someone else at a later date as she is involved with the program and the trust of the kids.
ReplyDeleteNot only is this a conflict of interest but also a total abuse of power. I would make it clear that this is not accepted and I would ask her to leave as she is destroying any trust in the servce that these young people have. I would explain to get the best possible outcome we need to work as a team and that her actions was undermining what we are trying to achieve. I would also ask that she follows the law and not question the underage youth without an adult present. Maybe work with a staff member the youth trust.
ReplyDeleteI think she should leave the scene of the aerosol art workshop, preferably of her own accord. The aerosol art workshop is not the scene of petty crime and is a legitimate workshop organised and supervised by a Youth Centre and employee. It is not the time and place to approach anyone in regard to her suspicions concerning any petty criminal activity and what is more her questioning would provide a safety threat to those she is attempting to question. She needs to take a look at her career path and if she wants to be a detective then she needs to apply to become one.
ReplyDeleteIt would be important to remind the officer that this activity is to help build relationships between young people and the community including law enforcement.
ReplyDeleteIt would be important to intervene ASAP and do it discreetly as to not ostracise the officer. Get in and get it sorted because her actions could and most probably would have the negative effects.
Kids are quick to pick up on anything dodgy and word will spread quickly if they think they’ve been set up..... Unfortunately the officer has already done the damage, it’s now on me/you as the worker to undo this and try re-establishing that trust without degrading my/your colleague
the police offier should rspect the young people's space. it is not appropriate for the police officer to question young people at this time or possible at any time as there is no evidence to suggest young people were even involved in petty theft.
ReplyDeletei would take the officer to the side and question her! I would explain that there is a conflict of interest and that if anything she is damaging relations rather than building them.
CWC youth work L2 group