Twenty-nine young men from Ramingining were recently given the opportunity to experience life outside of their community.
Ramingining Police in cooperation with the East Arnhem Shire organised and coordinated a team of young men from the community to compete in the Defence Jobs Cup Australian Rules Competition in Darwin.
The competition took place during early October at Marrara's TIO Stadium. The competition is an annual event run by AFL Northern Territory.
The trip was only made possible through a generous donation of $6,000 from the East Arnhem Shire, via the efforts of Youth Officer, Ashleigh Meyerson. This money paid for the player's meals, accommodation and representative jumpers, shorts and socks.
The AFL competition is far reaching with community teams coming from as far away as Alice Springs to compete. The Ramingining team were competitive throughout their six games, picking up one win along the way.
Ramingining Police and the East Arnhem Shire organised the trip for the team to compete in the AFL carnival, but also to expose the young men to life outside of Ramingining.
The team visited the Council of Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services to learn and discuss issues relating to alcohol and drugs in their community.
The men also attended the Northern Territory Police College to discuss the role of Aboriginal Community Police Officers (ACPO). The men were joined by 11 existing ACPO recruits who discussed their own personal journeys to becoming an ACPO. This meeting generated a lot of interest amongst the men and several men have since visited the Ramingining Police Station to collect ACPO application forms.
Brevet Sergeant Jack Harrington of the Ramingining Police Themis Station, who accompanied the team to Darwin, said community engagement projects such as this one are vital to build positive relationships between community members and the Police.
"This type of community engagement is recognised as one of the more effective policing practices in remote indigenous communities in terms of crime prevention.
"Since the inception of Task Force Themis in 2007 a range of community engagement strategies, many using sport as the common interest, have been successfully implemented.
"Ramingining Police will continue to look for ways to enhance their standing in the community through meaningful community engagement," he said.
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