Ground work and inter-agency approach sees drop in Youth Court numbers

At the Hayseed Trust, Napier, Dwayne Davies, left, and Jason Evans, Napier Police officers keeping more kids in schools.

A unique approach to keeping more children in education is working and is seeing a major drop in youth court appearances.

Napier police officers Dwayne Davies and Jason Evans are working with various other agencies on a regular basis to help keep youth engaged.

Provisional figures show that the number of youth going to the Napier Youth Court have dropped by about two thirds, going from 75 in 2015 down to 26 in 2017.

"It is very rewarding when you see the Youth Court numbers reducing because of the work that is being done and it's getting them back into some form education," says Evans.

The officers meet on a regular basis with partners in education, social services and alternative education providers.

The inter-agency approach has been going for about a year and the positive results are speaking for themselves.

"It's about prevention first," says Evans "in the courtroom is too late.

"We want our people to have pride in themselves, for some at-risk youth, if they're in school, they're less likely to be in court."

Evans says there are a number of social issues as to why some youths are not attending school or involved in education.

"School is not always a priority in some houses, poverty can be a problem as well as major social issues at home.

"So we're doing what we can to help our young give their time at their kura their best shot."

The majority of youth that they work with are Māori and they want to empower them through education.

Davies believes the ticket for keeping kids out of court and the youth justice system is education.

"I've seen it in homes where one child stops going to school and the other continues to go to school.

"The result, is one stays out of trouble, while the other unfortunately heads down the wrong path."

Eastern District Commander Superintendent Tania Kura has given her full support to the work that has been carried out so far.

It is hoped that the success achieved so far in this collaborative inter-agency approach can be mirrored across Hawke's Bay and throughout the Tairāwhiti area as well.

The approach aligns with the New Zealand Police national target of reducing offending by Māori by 25 per cent by 2025.