The Queensland Police Service (QPS) will hosted a graduation ceremony yesterday for 15 young people who have completed their journey with Project Booyah.
The students from Nerang and Palm Beach, both male and female, will also join to celebrate the release of a rap song written for Project Booyah, performed by New Zealand rapper and hip hop artist, Mareko and local police. They will also be supported by dancers from ‘Studio 453’, a local dance school.
Project Booyah is an initiative of the Gold Coast District Child Protection and Investigation Unit (CPIU) and is a multi-agency approach to reduce and prevent young people’s involvement in crime, the criminal justice system and further disengagement with their local community, education and/or their family.
The program is run over four months. It is designed to challenge and extend the participants, through expedition-based outdoor education, full health assessment, vocational studies provided by Queensland TAFE, literacy and numeracy studies facilitated by teachers from Education Queensland, fitness, resilience and leadership training and job placement.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ian Frame of Coomera District CPIU, said that police officers provide a positive channel to re-engage and realign relationships with the youth in the local community, while also re-enforcing the role of police.
“Their involvement is unique. However, together with the PCYC, other government and non-government agencies and the community behind them, they have a common pursuit to reduce and prevent young peoples’ involvement in the criminal justice sector.
“It is important to us that all participants and their respective families or significant others are treated with respect and dignity,” he said.
“This promotes pro-social behavior and reinforces effective ways of coping with frustration and dealing with difficult situations.”
Since Project Booyah’s inception in February 2012, 94 young people will graduate from the program, as of tomorrow.
“The vast majority of these students have gained employment and/or returned to their educational environment and the statistics are also encouraging,” Detective Senior Sergeant Frame continued.
“At the outset, of the 94 participants, 52 had committed a total of 474 offences. Since engaging with the program, we have seen this dramatically reduce to 12 committing a total of 62 offences,” he said.
Project Booyah is currently operating in Cairns, Capalaba, Logan, Nerang and Palm Beach. Townsville is set to commence later this month.
The project was previously recognised as a winner in the 2012 Queensland Child Protection Week Awards (Youth Participation Category).