Detective’s Faith In The Young

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31223, 22 November 1966, Page 1

Detective’s Faith In The Young

iMiie years wont as me juvenile crime prevention officer in Christchurch has convinced Detective C. P. Burns that there are more delinquent parents than delinquent children.

“The kids today are no better and no worse than those when I was a boy,” said 60year - old Detective Burns, father of seven children and the first juvenile crime prevention officer appointed by the New Zealand Police.

“In my day we had buggies and bikes with which to commit mischief and get into trouble,” he said. “Today they have cars—they go further and faster.

“When I started in 1957, we dealt with about 900 young persons—from five to under 17. Last year we dealt with about 1000.

“So, bang goes the common conception that more and more kids are getting off the rails.

“The young are getting much more publicity, on television and radio as well as in the newspapers—and a great deal of it is adverse publicity. But they are no worse and no better than they were when I was a boy.

“If adults think back clearly to when they were young, they may wonder if they are justified in throwing stones at the young of today,” Detective Burns said. CAUSES GIVEN He listed the causes of juvenile delinquency as: Working mothers with young children—excluding widows, deserted wives and other mothers forced to work by economic circumstances. Jealousy in the young—“very hard to detect.” Broken homes. Indulgent or ineffective parents. Boredom in the young. “The standard of discipline in many homes is not what it used to be, and if parents cannot control their children why should they blame the schoolteachers? “Juvenile delinquents come from all types of homes—wealthy and poor. You soon learn that. With a good mother and a reasonably good father the chance of delinquent children is very small. The police had established juvenile crime prevention sections in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin 16 months after the section had begun in Christchurch. “It was trial and error when Constable R. G. Carson and I started. The other sections were started and their work set out along the policy lines we had established by experiment in Christchurch. Now there is a full-time or part-time police juvenile prevention officer everywhere there is a child welfare officer,” said Detective Burns. “I think the police juvenile

crime prevention service has proved worthwhile. The service could be better. It could and should be better as it is understood and appreciated more, both within the police and without.” WELFARE LINKS

The juvenile crime prevention branches in the police worked in close co-operation with the Child Welfare Department.

“We are all social workers, and I think social workers should be persons with some standing—not just amateur do-gooders. We want parents who have a problem with a young person to come and see us and seek advice.

“The publicity when young persons get into trouble is such that parents and adults are ashamed; they should come and see us, preferably when they first recognise a problem. Everything is treated in the strictest confidence; we disguise our identity as members of the police as much as possible,” Detective Burns said. GAP IN GUIDANCE

He said that most of the young persons who got into serious trouble were aged 16-17. He felt that a serious gap in guidance existed because there was nobody appointed to look after those of

18 and 19 except the probation service. Probation officers were called in only after a young person had been convicted of committing an offence.

“We are all social workers, and nobody can do what the parents should do to care for and guide their children. There should be an agency to look after 18 and 19-year-olds as our work with those of up to 17 shows." Detective Burns has served 35 years with the police. He was in the C. 1.8. from 1932 to 1957 and has dealt with every kind and class of crime in his career. He was awarded the B.E.M. in the Queen’s Birthday honours this year. “Constable G. Dynes is taking over my job, and he will also be ably assisted by Policewoman R. Boyle. I leave the job having a great deal of faith in the young persons of today. The names of fewer than one in every 150 come before us; the great majority of young persons are good.” Detective Burns said.