The work of a Neighbourhood Youth Officer has received recognition from a number of schools in the Arun district.
Education and early intervention can play a key role in guiding young people on the right path.
Working with local schools, Neighbourhood Youth Officers (NYOs) from Sussex Police address topics such as drugs, weapons, sex and the law, healthy relationships, assaults and more.
PC Dan Sibun, based out of Littlehampton Police Station, has helped to positively influence the lives of pupils and young people in the community for the past three-and-a-half years.
He said:
“By speaking to schools, children and their parents early on, and developing intelligence about any potential crime patterns or concerns, our aim is ultimately to reduce and prevent youth offending.
“Part of my role is to provide intervention sessions to young people who commit crime in the hope of diverting their behaviour away from further criminality.
“Sitting down with a young offender as part of the intervention process, giving them one-to-one intuition on what they’ve done, the impact of their actions and how it could affect them in later life, and how their actions can have a significant impact on their victims, can work really well in preventing further offending especially with supportive parents.
Officers visiting Hopscotch Nursery in Hove
“While each crime is different and will need to be individually reviewed, a favoured method of disposal for young people is for them to make amends for their actions in the form of restorative justice.
“For more serious crimes or crimes that have had a significant impact on a victim I also deal with enforcement where necessary.”
With 15 years’ experience in the force including working as a Special, a PCSO, and within the local Response and Neighbourhood Policing Teams, it perhaps comes as no surprise that PC Sibun has been described by local schools as “professional”, “supportive” and “indispensable”, among other things.
“I put it down to having a passion and motivation for the job,” he said. “I like the ability to sort stuff out before it escalates, and I think having a bit of passion goes a long way.
“Quite a few of the kids I’ve worked with over the years have managed to turn it around. And while you can’t measure success on offences you may have prevented from happening, it at least shows that the input you’ve had may have positively influenced young people in their decision making and reduced crime in the long run.
“It’s all about making a professional judgement, delving a bit deeper and finding the right outcome for each individual child.”
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