Police commissioner candidates asked to sign youth charter
Neil Puffett
Friday, October 12, 2012
Police and crime commissioner (PCC) candidates are being asked to commit to taking young people's views into account by signing a pledge.
The youth charter, created by a youth advisory group at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), has already been signed by five candidates.
Elections for commissioners will take place next month, with winning candidates required to draw up a local police and crime plan to set out their priorities and how they intend to improve services during their term in office.
Concerns have previously been raised that commissioners may take a hardline approach towards young people or redirect existing money that goes towards supporting young people involved with the justice system.
By signing the youth charter, candidates will pledge to make themselves accessible to young people through face-to-face surgeries, social media, or e-petitions, to treat all young people as citizens, and to provide an equal platform for all members of the community, including minorities and those who are marginalised.
They will also pledge to use their influence to support the police force to engage positively with all young people and to establish a way of representing young people’s views by creating a youth PCC role or a youth advisory panel.
Faiza Khan, deputy chief executive of NCVYS, said: “Statistically, young people are the most likely age group to be victims of crime, and while they are members of our communities, they remain significantly under-represented in electoral processes.
“As such, it is of utmost importance that our PCCs fully engage with young people, and so we are calling on all PCC candidates to sign up to our youth charter, a set of five pledges to engage with young people, keeping them in mind when making key decisions.”
Rob Abraham, 19, a member of the NCVYS youth advisory group, said: “PCCs should engage with young people because working in partnership with them will reduce youth crime and make them feel like valued members of the community.”
Another member, 17-year-old Jessica Senior, added: “PCCs should involve themselves with young people as young people have a passion for how policing could work better, they just need to be given the time to be heard.”
