TWO Normanton based police officers received a QPS award for excellence through their work in supporting youth.
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Senior Sergeant Duane Amos, currently acting Mount Isa Inspector, and Senior Constable Margaret Green were finalists for the QPS ‘achieving through adversity’ award. They received acknowledgement during a recent police award ceremony at the Good Shepherd Parish.
Acting Inspector Amos said the award was about helping Indigenous youth of the community.
As a result of the direction that numerous police officers that have taken in Normanton over seven years the outcome has been a 69 per cent decrease in break and enters in the community.
“It says a lot for the children because they started to realise the outcomes associated with the opportunities for the future,” Acting Inspector Amos said.
“And those people now are employed individuals that have children of their own and are moving forward as a community.”
He said much of the engagement with youth also happened in officers’ own time, while not officially working. “It’s the pillar (of policing the region) in terms of community policing because without our communities there’s no way we could solve the crime,” he said.
“It’s a matter of seeing them in their home environment understanding the challenges that they face and giving them the opportunities to be a better person in a challenging environment, which is why it was called ‘achieving through adversity.’”
He acknowledged the police officers that had served in Normanton during that time.
“Without their work we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we did,” Acting Inspector Amos said.