February 10, 2010
SNT East Luton and Young People together Show Crime the Red Card
Members of East Luton’s Safer Neighbourhood Team have launched a new sporting initiative to help combat youth crime in Luton and are looking for schools, colleges and sports clubs to get involved.
The initiative will see Safer Neighbourhood Team members playing sport with young people in the town whilst wearing specially designed kit with their names and numbers on the back making them more approachable.
It is hoped that the initiative will give the police the opportunity to nip problems in the bud and deter young people from becoming involved in anti-social behaviour and crime. Whilst wearing the kit will help young people see the team as regular people and not just members of authority.
The initiative will also enable young people to recognise their local policing team whilst helping to build trust and confidence between the Safer Neighbourhood Team and the youngsters, encouraging young people to tell the police what concerns them.
The initiative kicked off last week to a great start with a football match between members of the Safer Neighbourhood Team and staff from Jay Raj Indian Restaurant, who sponsored the set of new sports kit, which will be used by the police. The match ended with the police team winning 11 – 9 and was followed by an official launch of the initiative which was attended by local dignitaries and hosted by the owner of Jay Raj, Mr Jomir Ali.
PC Carl Perri, from East Luton’s Safer Neighbourhood Team, said on a daily basis the police come in to contact with young people but unfortunately often only get to know the few who are already involved in anti social behaviour and crime, which brings down the reputation of all young people.
He said: “Young people today are often seen as ‘hoodies’ or ‘drunken yobs’, but this isn’t the case. Young people are an important part of all our communities and the police have acknowledged that there is a need to seek new ways of communicating with them and building confidence and trust between us. This new sports project is one of the ways we are trying to do just that.”
“We will be visiting each of these schools once every two months, on top of our current commitments. However, when we visit on these new dates we will go in as a team of five or six, dressed in the football kits with our names and numbers on show, ready to participate in sports lessons for the entire day.
“Sport is a great way to relax, enjoy yourself and be competitive. If children see police officers and Community Support Officers participating it is hoped they will see us in a new light - as regular people who aren’t at that time in uniform demanding respect through authority. We will be at their level doing what they do and ready to listen to what they have to say.”
He added: “This new way of interacting with young people in our community has been made possible by our kind sponsor Jay Raj and this is a super example of local business supporting a local initiative to benefit the young with our communities.”
If your sports club or school would like to get involved in this initiative you can contact PC Perri at Luton East’s Safer Neighbourhood Team office by calling 01582 473456 or email SNT.Luton-East@Bedfordshire.pnn.Police.uk
Members of Luton East SNT and staff from Jay Raj
From left to right
PS Aaron Kiff, PCSO Andrew Gough, Pc Ryan Coomber
PS Hob Hoque, PC Carl Perri & PC Matt Carroll
