Melbourne Youth Summit 2017 tackles crime, jobs for kids

GETTING young criminals into jobs is top of Victoria police chief Graham Ashton’s agenda at the state’s second Youth Summit at the MCG.

Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton at the Police Headquarters in Melbourne. Picture: Alex Coppel.

VICTORIA Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton will host the state’s second Youth Summit at the MCG today where the task of getting young criminals into jobs will be top of the agenda.

Last week the Herald Sun revealed Mr Ashton wants young criminals to be found work in a bid to solve the state’s crime wave problem.

Mr Ashton said getting youngsters into work meant they would be far less likely to offend because they had something to lose.

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“Today brings the opportunity to enhance the way we, as a community, support our young people into meaningful and sustainable employment,” Mr Ashton told the Herald Sun yesterday.

“A lack of access to jobs with career prospects, training and education means some of our youth consider street life more appealing than the regular working world.

“We need to explore ways to give our youth opportunities that are more attractive than crime.”

The summit will get under way at 9am and will welcome more than 200 experts from industry, academia, community, government and non-government organisations.

“There’s a lot of good will in the community and in industry and I’m excited to see what today brings,” Mr Ashton said.

“By supporting young people in accessing employment opportunities we’ll no doubt provide young people with critical structure and purpose and reduce their risk of entering the justice system.”

Keeping youngsters in school will also be discussed as a key factor in keeping youth crime under control.

Mr Ashton said the trouble police have had in the past is when they go into schools the youngsters most at risk at turning to crime were not always there.

He said school staff are now taking on more responsibility in chasing down youths when they don’t show up for classes.

“We had police going into schools and we could talk to the kids that were in school but we missed the whole group of kids who were at significant risk that weren’t attending the school,” Mr Ashton said.

“It is critical to keep young people in school because we know that is a major factor in reducing offending.

“There are a lot of good examples where the school works with parents as well as the kids.”

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