KEY POINTS:
It is quite an accomplishment when the leader of a well-known South Auckland youth gang sends his local police officer a text message saying how excited he is to be withdrawing money from an ATM - legally.
These days most young people wouldn't even know the local station's
phone number, let alone send an officer a text message about their paycheque.
But in Manurewa the phone never stops ringing. Sometimes the calls are about a fight that's about to take place.
Other times they are ringing for advice or to update members of the recently formed Youth Action Team about their new job or some exciting development in their life.
The team, which was set up in response to community concern after a string of youth gang homicides last year, works proactively with young people - youth gang members in particular - in the hope of turning their lives around.
Constable Akerei (Rei) Malesala says the unit's focus is not on making arrests but implementing initiatives that will help keep young people out of trouble in the first place.
Sometimes it's helping with everyday issues that others might take for granted, such as getting a driver's licence or a job.
"The idea was to get them off the street, to develop people skills and try and get them to realise how hard it is to earn a living and to try and show kids a different side of policing - we are not all about enforcement, we do want to be part of a positive and constructive development of their skills," says Mr Malesala.
"We started off door-knocking local businesses to get them to employ troubled youth gang members.
"A lot of them were quite apprehensive because they didn't want any criminals working for them."
Slowly, with the help of other agencies such as Work and Income, local Manurewa businesses started coming on board and the results are speaking for themselves.
In the few months the unit has been fully operational, staff have helped 19 youths into jobs.
One, a 17-year-old gang leader, has been working for several months and has done so well he has been promoted to a team leader.
Several of Mr Malesala's "boys" are following suit.
The drawcard for them all is the opportunity to earn their own money - legally.
"A week after he got his first paycheque he texted me to say how excited he was to be able to withdraw money from an ATM and not break out into a sweat when a police car drove by," said Mr Malesala.
Many of the youths police deal with are quite intelligent but just need some help and guidance, he says.
Thanks to the trust that is being built up, teens are also turning to the Youth Action Team in times of trouble, such as the recent Mahia Rd shooting when a family fled their home after being caught in the middle of a street war between rival groups.
"A lot of the kids wouldn't talk to the detectives [in that case] but they would talk to us."
