South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 20/03/2014

The Youth Board recently carried out a consultation of local young people to understand views on their relationship with the police and their experiences of crime. The Youth Board received replies from 158 of their peers, and 71 of those who responded had been victims of crime of themselves.

The meeting was held at the Kingswood Civic Centre. Young people from the Youth Board, supported by their Participation Workers, devised the meeting session based on their findings from the consultation on young people’s relationships with the police. A sub group from the Youth Board hosted the event, presenting information and data gathered from the consultation as well as holding group workshops.

Everyone attending also took part in an interactive exercise that aimed to develop ideas about how barriers between young people and the police could be broken down, and there was also an exercise to find out how young people would prefer to contact the police.

Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: "We are really grateful to the Youth Board for the amount of effort they have put into this project. The number of people they have spoken to is fantastic and really shows the benefit of working with young people to seek the views of their peers. The information which the Youth Board have gathered in relation to experiences of crime will be fed into our victims commissioning process to ensure services meet the needs of young people."

Amy Hurst, PCC Youth Champion, said: "As Youth Champion for the PCC, part of my role is to ensure that young people have a voice in relation to crime and policing. The work carried out by the Youth Board has given local young people a fantastic opportunity to have their say on issues which really matter to them including the way they perceive their relationships with the police, their views on crime, drugs, how to report incidents, stop & search, and trust."

Vanessa Huskisson, Youth Intervention and Support Service Participation Worker at South Gloucestershire Council, said: "The Youth Board found it an interesting event and everyone involved got a lot out it. It has been good to build a strong link with Amy Hurst, the PCC Youth Champion. We also have some things to take away and work on over the summer which is going to improve communication between young people and the police."

One of the Youth Board members Rebecca Smith, from Kingswood, said: "It was a chance to have our say!"

The information which the Youth Board collected as part of the consultation will be used to inform a youth forum event that is planned for the summer. The Office of the PCC are keen to work with the Youth Board to help develop the event and will continue to liaise with them to take this forward.