Police Youth Clubs
Trinidad and Tobago recently received a vivid and unfortunate reminder of the continuing inclination of our youth to civil commotion and crime, against a background of unemployment, following another initiative by the Government to counteract crime, “Colour Me Orange”, which campaign targets Housing Development Corporation developments in need of repair and refurbishment.
The Chamber continues to be concerned with at risk youth, the future generation of crime and the target of gang culture. We commend the recent initiatives by Minister of National Security, Brigadier John Sandy, to establish cadet groups in every school. Minister Sandy makes no bones about disclosing that he lived in East Dry River, attended Nelson Street Boys School and is proud of his experience starting as a cadet, and later on, in the military. Certainly, to be in Brigadier Sandy’s presence is to be impressed by his aura of discipline, law and order.
Not only has the cadet force an agent of this type of nation building, but so too has our Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Brownies, Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance Brigade, and a multitude of youth groups from faith-based organisations and NGOs. Many, of them, though have been depleted in active membership and leadership in recent times because of the impact of less and less ‘free time’, both parents working full-time, single parent families, dysfunctional homes and sedentary lifestyles, all of which also contribute to the increase in the ‘at risk’ impact.
It is the culture of discipline and inculcation of self-esteem, responsibility, accountability and independence which promotes Police Youth Clubs as models of equal standing with our historic youth organisations. Mr. Derick Sharbodie, Chairman of the St. James Club, recently made a presentation to the Chamber’s Crime and Justice Committee when he spoke about its Training Centre at 5, Sierra Leone Road, Petit Valley, where the main focus is to engage young people in productive activity, in education, sports, culture, spirituality and community service as alternatives to the life of drugs, crime and juvenile delinquency. The St. James Club fostered the recent establishment of another in St. Barbs which hosts programmes for parents on being drug free, children and the community in general. It prides itself on also inaugurating a Suspension Centre in the Western Division, which serves students who have been suspended from St. Anthony’s College, St. James Secondary, Mucurapo Junior Secondary and others in surrounding areas, by engaging them various productive activities during the period of the suspension, something which is not provided for in the Education Act or system.
The Petit Valley Centre at present houses eight male residents between the ages of twelve to eighteen, who together with those who reside elsewhere, participate in male and female parent support groups, Latin dancing, pan, art therapy, masonry, remedial classes and computer literacy, all coached by pro bono tutors and volunteers.
The Chamber identifies opportunities here for its members to assist members of these Youth Clubs with appropriately preparing for job interviews and the working world, grasping the concept of value for money, and training for the many non-skilled vacancies which exist today, but of which there are few qualified applicants who are dedicated, loyal and productive. The successful linkages with GATE, YTEPP, MUST, etc., must also be one of the logical objectives. We see opportunities for the success of the Junior Crime Stoppers programme, our own Neighbourhood Crime Watch programme and care of the national environment.
The Chamber makes an appeal today to the Minster of Education, to recognise the strategic value of the Suspension Centre, to ensure its continued success and establishment throughout the school catchment and in assisting drop outs of the education system in accessing our youth camps. The Ministry of the People and Social Development need to do likewise and assist the Clubs in cash or kind, to bring their services to each Division in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, as does the Ministry of Sports. Even the Public Transport Service Corporation could surely pitch in with some assistance in providing high volume transport of participants in the external programmes and events for Club members while they raise funds for the acquisition of their own means of conveyance and recurrent expenditure, learning the private sector lessons of financial independence, self sustainability, self-sacrifice and hard work, on the way.
The Chamber takes this opportunity to salute all those professionals and organisations which assist the Clubs with their several programmes and community projects for the nation’s youth and the roles they play in fighting crime at the root. We congratulate Derick Sharbodie, a police officer, the Police Service, their teams and the many Derick Sharbodies of the day, for donating their time and skill, to leading and propagating good news, not only of the orange colour.
