Police “C” Division Commander, Calvin Brutus has said that as compared to 2017, the Division’s social crime prevention programmes which target young people will grow significantly this year (2018).
Brutus, during an interview with INews recently noted that there were four initiatives implemented in 2017, with the intention of targeting children from ages 10 to 18 and young adults in their 20s. He posited that this age range was selected based on an analysis which shows that those more inclined to commit criminal activities are those of the younger generation.
“From our analysis [it] shows that the younger generation are the ones who perpetrate the crimes and that vulnerable group between 10 and 16, 18 is the one that we target. More emphasis is placed on that group but we’re not leaving out the others who are in their young 20s, young adults as well,” he explained.
The “C” Division Commander further explained that these programmes would enable youths to build their capacities, better occupy their time and assist them in building skills to become gainfully employed.
Brutus disclosed that through the expansion of the 2017 Social Crime Prevention Youth Programmes, some 300 odd persons were employed within the Division.
Meanwhile, he highlighted that there are significant challenges being faced by the Division to sustain these projects; the main one being the lack of funding to ensure these crucial programmes are implemented.
“Of course some challenges that we face would be that we operate without a budget and we rely on the corporate social persons to assist in this initiative and those other NGOs [Non-Governmental Organisations] that do come on board,” he said.
Brutus posited that with continued support in 2018, the Division intends to equip young people so as to allow them to function almost independently and provide sustenance to the projects. (Ramona Luthi)
