The police gave me their 10 best customers aged between 14 and 19.
They also gave me their old Police Station and four-cell wooden jail. So while I was securing a place to put the two buildings I put the team through an introduction programme of what we were going to do over the next six months. Taskforce Green was involved to pay their wages, we used the new police station as our home to meet and learn a few things before going out to restore the two former police buildings.
A typical day was breakfast at 8am provided by Pak’nSave followed by an hour of education. Simple maths, learning to read and write, passing the New Zealand Speech Board exams were part of the curriculum. As was gaining a driver’s licence for some.
The work consisted of sanding the exterior surfaces of the buildings back to bare wood. All 15 coats without help from any machines.
Within a month the burglary rate had dropped to less than five per week. By their own admission the team were too tired to go out on the night shift. When the weather was bad, they worked inside doing the same job. Every month as a reward the team went out to dinner and learnt heaps.
Just sitting at a table to eat was something new.
Trips to the cinema, art galleries and day trips to Picton on the ferries were included. Talking about ferries, when the team became proficient painters we became ferry painters. We would travel to Picton on the ferry, arrive at 1am and start painting.
Toilets, lounges etc at 7am we would stop and be taken into town for a cooked breakfast. When the ship sailed at 10am the special paint had dried. We were treated to free films and a tour around the bridge. Members worked hard to get on the ferry team. Just like normal life. Rewards came with commitment.
After a while the ships would be taken into dry dock for their annual inspection at the Devonport naval base. Our team would travel up by ship and unbolt all the fixed tables and chairs ready to have new carpet and underlay installed. When that was complete, it was back to painting.
In our model one team learnt to paint and the other team did grounds work like gorse cutting, tree planting, fence building and paving.
The painting projects included all types of community buildings like early childhood centres, churches, sports clubs, senior citizens halls, scout dens and community centres.
In all, 782 people passed through the programme over 10 years. Only two went to jail. Several ended up doing periodic detention but the rest ended up working having gained a useful skill and some reasonable social skills and better education.
Was it a success?
Well, Dame Catherine Tizzard the Governor-General opened the newly restored Police Station and jail and presented the 10 young members of the team with certificates of completion.
The 1862 Grand National Hotel was moved alongside the Police Station in the centre of Jackson St and was completely restored. And the street is a destination place to visit.
In 1995 I became Wellingtonian of the Year for Community Service.
So I suggest you don’t knock something because of the name.
Our name was not boot camp but the Rotary Community Corps.
Roy Cox JP
Katikati
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