Students learn about the consequences of crime

The workshops form part of a roadshow organised by charity Prison! Me! No Way!!! as part of their Crime Week programme, which encourages students to think about making the right choices during a number of interactive lessons.

As part of the roadshow – which visited four schools
this week and is due to be offered to all Year 8 pupils throughout the academic year – police officers, firefighters, ambulance crew, dog handlers and prison officers have been drafted in for the interactive lessons.

Lesley Harrison, chairwoman of PMNW, said: ‘Crime Weeks are the most exciting part of our school input. It gives the entire team the opportunity to engage with young people and share knowledge and experiences with them.

‘There is a lot of important information being shared but it is also a tremendous amount of fun, for both the students and the officers who make up the team.’

In one of the workshops a street scene is set up and pupils take part in a roleplay where they ask an adult to buy them alcohol from a local shop. The group then return later under the influence of alcohol, steal a newspaper and knock on a nearby house before running away.

Speaking to pupils at Grainville, States police officer Simon Allen-Le Bas said: ‘We get calls every Halloween from people who have been disturbed by someone knocking on their door and some people are really distressed by it. If there are some properties that are being targeted regularly then, depending if we have officers available, we will put officers in the area.

‘When you knock on a door you don’t know who lives there. You need to think about what you are doing whenever you do anything.’

States police school liaison officer Jo Carter educated the students about the Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment) Jersey Law, which gives police the power to move someone away from a scene, or arrest them, if they believe them to be disorderly. She also spoke about confiscation of alcohol legislation, which allows officers to take alcohol from anyone they believe is going to give it to someone who is underage.

Grainville pupil, Jamie Raphael-Hall (12) said: ‘I know now that you just need to act in a disorderly fashion to be arrested, and I have learnt what is and isn’t illegal.

‘The police are here to teach us at a young age what is right and wrong so when we get older we don’t end up getting into trouble. They want to teach us before we start going down the wrong path.’

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