The Blue Rose Project today received a silver award in the police-led category of the 2023 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPAs).
The ACVPAs recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence before it occurs.
The Blue Rose Project, based in Gawler, South Australia, works to ensure police are innovative in preventing and responding to crime, antisocial behaviour and missing person occurrences among young people in care. An officer interacts with young people and support agencies daily, building stronger relationships, better intelligence, enhanced accountability, improved prevention and more timely intervention strategies.
By using existing police approaches such as intelligence-led policing and the development of close relationships with the at-risk group, factors affecting the youth’s behaviour and ways to reduce their involvement in the criminal justice system are identified and implemented.
“While The Blue Rose Project is currently only operating in Gawler, we hope now thanks to the ACVPA, our bespoke and unique model can have a broader jurisdictional and policy influence for better outcomes in the youth crime sector,” said Senior Sergeant First Class and Officer in Charge Gawler Police Rob Mowday.
“This project has already seen a reduction in missing young people and youth crime simply through increased engagement, an approach that can be easily adopted in other communities,” said Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Deputy Director Dr Rick Brown.
These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.
The awards are a joint initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments and are delivered by the AIC. All projects are assessed each year by the ACVPA Board, which consists of senior law enforcement representatives from each state and territory police service, and is chaired by the AIC Director.
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