Hawke's Bay Police arethis week getting right in behind a fantastic initiative – the Te Taitimu Trust 2017 Big Camp.

The programme, which kicked off on Sunday at Te Aute College, has been developed as an opportunity for youths, many of whom are at risk and some of whom are gang-family children, to better realise their potential.

Eastern District Maori Responsiveness Manager Inspector Damin Ormsby says this is a gem of a programme which Police has been proud to support and get involved with for some time now.

'The programme is designed essentially to raise their sights.

If these youths are fulfilling their potential - whether in sport, in the academic arena, or simply in their personal day-to-day lives, then they're not getting into trouble and coming to police attention.

'Our staff really enjoy getting involved in this exciting programme, we love doing what we can to try and make a difference in the lives of these young New Zealanders and want to help inspire them to do great things.”

The programme includes components of suicide prevention, water safety, decision making, leadership, and environmental sustainability and is part of a broader programme of work by the Te Taitimu Trust.

The Te Taitimu Trust Big Camp is in line with Police's core prevention strategy ‘Turning of the Tide', which commits Police and Maori to working together to achieve common goals by 2018.

'This is a wonderful example of us partnering with iwi and having our staff involved as mentors and volunteers will help these Maori youths to have more trust and confidence in Police,” says Inspector Ormsby.

'A number of our local Police staff have been involved with this initiative from the outset and we're proud to be growing our association with this programme even further.”

SOURCE: NZ Police