THE possibility of a Police Citizens Youth Club (PCYC) for Coonamble is back on the agenda for Council and the NSW Government.
On Thursday 4 October Coonamble Shire councillors and staff met with Lester Stump, PCYC NSW’s General Manager Strategic Development, Facilities and Assets who brought with him the Manager of the Walgett PCYC Amanda Cheal.
Local councillors were keen to get information on how to push forward with a PCYC for Coonamble.
“We would like to go forward and see what we can do for our community” Mayor Karanouh told the visitors.
The process for establishing a PCYC can be incremental and is not just about the building.
“You can’t just helicopter a building in and expect it all to work,” Mr Stump said. “Walgett was initially established with a monthly outreach service with a truck and police from Bathurst.””Then we received $250,000 which allowed us to put a small transportable building on the Walgett High School site.”
“Now we’ve been allocated $6million to construct a purpose-built facility on our chosen site,” he said.
Ms Cheal explained that the important thing was to view the PCYC as a ‘whole of community’ project and not double up on services.
“It has to be a community hub with a youth focus,” Ms Cheal said. “Everyone should be able to use it.”
“Walgett already had a youth centre so we agreed that they would work with primary aged kids and we would focus on high school,” she said. “That way all kids across the community are being serviced.”
Walgett was first allocated a PCYC in 2011 and the benefits are now becoming very clear.
According to Ms Cheal, a PCYC can’t be expected to change the world and working closely with other organisations is critical to success along with a community prepared to work proactively with police.
One of the strengths of the PCYC model is having a consistent and positive police presence working with young people in the town.
To be acknowledged as a PCYC every service must have two Police staff from the Youth and Crime Prevention Command which is separate to general duties police stationed in a town.
Each appointment is a three year contract and these positions, along with the PCYC Manager, must be approved by the Minister of Police.
“Our kids used to have a really aggressive relationship with police,” Ms Cheal said. “This has totally changed.”
“Now they go to the police when they need help or even just a ride home.”
The PCYC’s work has also caught the attention of the local Magistrate Claire Girotto.
“The Magistrate said ‘whatever you’re doing keep doing it’,” Ms Cheal said. “She told us she has no juvenile charges in front of her at the moment.”
“We do a lot of work with Juvenile Justice and the magistrate,” Ms Cheal said. “It’s all about keeping kids out of the system because once they’re in there the risk of re-offending is very high.”
Coonamble councillors indicated their intention to push for a PCYC in the district for the benefit of young people and the wider community.
The need for a PCYC was tabled in discussions between local business people and Labor leader Luke Foley during his visit to Coonamble on Monday 1 October.
A discussion on a PCYC is also scheduled during a visit by the Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Nationals candidate for Barwon Andrew Schier on Tuesday 9 October which will involve a number of local agencies including council.
