Police launch pilot program at Marsden State High School

WHETHER it’s cooking bacon and eggs or running drills, police south of Brisbane are going the extra mile to make sure young people don’t fall through the cracks.

The police-led program Respect will launch at Marsden State High School this term.

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STOPPING kids falling through the cracks is the aim of a police-led trial being launched at a school south of Brisbane.

The RESPECT program will kick off this term at Marsden State High School, headed by acting senior constable at Logan Child Protection and Investigation Unit Deb McLachlan.

The school-based officer is no stranger to the Logan school.

For the past eight weeks she has run Blue Edge — a program that involved 6.30am training sessions with students and serving up the occasional bacon and egg roll.

Logan Child Protection and Investigation Unit’s detective senior sergeant Grant Ralston and acting senior constable Deb McLachlan.

Sen Const. McLachlan said RESPECT would involve 20 students from Year 10 who were at risk of dropping out of school.

“The goal is to give these young people resilience, good choices, self worth and self esteem,” she said.

“It’s to try and change their path and keep them in school.”

The 10-week program will involve building conflict resolution skills, and awareness around cyber safety, drugs and alcohol.

Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Ralston said the program offered a proactive way for police to connect with disengaged youths and challenged students to see beyond an officer’s blue uniform.

“When they see a police officer working out with them at the gym or cooking them breakfast that can only be a good thing,” he said.

“It gives us a human face, so they don’t just see us as enforcing the law.”