New youth ambassador for Cheshire

POLICE and Crime Commissioner John Dwyer has announced the appointment of Dominic Rogers as Youth Ambassador for the young people of Cheshire.
Dominic, aged 23, has previous experience in working with young people with special needs and emotional and behavioural difficulties as a learning support assistant at a Cheshire high school, in youth centres with school refusers and as a football coach.
Mr Dwyer said: “I have been criticised by some for seeking to make this appointment but I developed the role profile and job description with partner organisations such as Youth Offending Services, Catch 22, youth groups and local councils. I also sought the views of young people themselves and it is clear to me that I need someone to represent the voices of the 23 per cent of the population in Cheshire who are under 18 (almost 238,000 residents).
“Recent events have made me reflect on the need for the appointment and I am conscious that young people facing difficult circumstances and those at risk from harm need a way to make themselves heard. I feel that the money being invested in the salary of the Youth Ambassador is public money being used to protect our young people and involve them in developing improvements to policing that we will all benefit from.”
Last year, seven per cent of victims of crime in Cheshire were young people, but there were also 445 first time offenders entering the criminal justice system who were under the age of 18.
Mr Dwyer added: “I want the Youth Ambassador to work with young people to prevent them from becoming victims by talking to them about personal safety, internet security, the dangers of online child exploitation, responsible attitudes to drugs and alcohol and driver safety amongst many other matters affecting young people today.
“This is not something that I could ask a volunteer to do. This is a full time role which asks for weekend and evening work with youth groups and organisations as well as working with schools and partners during the day.
“I cannot personally commit the appropriate time to doing this myself with my other public engagement activity and I believe that this requires the experience of working with young people which Dominic brings.”
The selection process to become Youth Ambassador included a presentation to a panel of eight young people and an interview with a panel of five, including the Police and Crime Commissioner and the head of Warrington, Halton and Cheshire Youth Offending Services.
The Youth Ambassador will be focussing on young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs). To add some context, the national average percentage of those aged 16-18 who are NEETs is 6.2 per cent. In Warrington this percentage is 5.9 per cent, in Halton 10.3 per cent, in Cheshire West and Chester 4.9 per cent and in Cheshire East it 5.5 per cent.