Teenagers and police to ‘build bridges’ on cold camp

Erin Pearson
A DOZEN teenagers from Geelong will spend the weekend camping in mountains with police as part of a new program to build relationships between the two groups.
The Barwon Youth program will send the youths and officers to an adventure activity camp at Alpine Ash Mountain Retreat, near Kinglake.
Youth Justice Community Support Service co-ordinator Daniel Moyle said the camp would be a “high-challenge” experience.
“The whole purpose is to get kids who are at-risk to spend time with police and work together in some activities that increase their confidence and teamwork skills,” he said.
“It provides a great opportunity to build a different relationship with police and to build some bridges.
“There are a lot of negative things in the papers about young people for various reasons, so it’s good to get some positive things happening between youth and police.”
Mr Moyle hoped the trip would “improve the teenagers’ confidence to trust in their own abilities”.
“I think they’ll do well,” he said.
Brad Morris, 16, was concerned about the camp’s “coldness” but believed it would be a good opportunity to spend time with friends and police with whom he had developed friendships.