Edition 16 - 2019

Contents: Blue EDGE Update - Charleville Billy Cart Derby - Browns Plains Youth Camp

Hinchinbrook Reconciliation Event - State Coordinator’s Report - Corporate Club Supporters

Blue EDGE

Our Blue EDGE (Educate, Develop, Grow, Empower) Program

continues to grow in popularity, with more and more schools

and communities requesting our assistance.

EDGE is a robust intervention program developed by Qld Blue

Light for at risk youths aged 12 – 17 years. Police and civilian

volunteers mentor groups of up to 20 young people twice a

week for eight weeks. Each session involves 30 – 45 minutes

of exercise, followed by a shower and breakfast. Life skills

lessons are delivered, with some core topics being the role of

the police, the importance of education, health and nutrition,

goal setting and asking for help. Lessons can be customised

to address issues specific to each area, for example drugs and

alcohol or gang related violence.

We are proud to have now delivered 41 EDGE programs

throughout Queensland. KPMG are currently overseeing the

second extensive evaluation of the program, and the findings

will be available by mid next year. We anticipate the same

positive findings as reported in the last report from June

2018.

QBLAI works closely with local schools, Police staff and other

community organisations to deliver these programs. This

whole of community approach is helping to break down

barriers between young people and their peers, as well as

adult mentors from the community. Career education is

another important issue discussed over the program. Special

guest speakers are invited to address and motivate

participants which has seen some participants find jobs in

their local communities.

We hope to keep expanding our Blue EDGE program with

financial assistance from various sources. Our Corporate Club

supporters continue to be our biggest ongoing source of

income. We also receive grant income from the Australian

Drug Foundation, the Australian Government and the

Queensland Police Service.

EDGE Programs

delivered

Young people

completed EDGE

Police & Civilian

Volunteers

Charleville Blue Light Billy Cart Derby

Charleville’s Inaugural Billy Cart Derby was held on Saturday

the 7th September. This event was the culmination of many

hours of work put it by the volunteers from Charleville Blue

Light and the other not for profit groups in the community.

The day began for attendees at 10am, with family activities

held at St Mary’s school. Blue Light had a display with a lucky

dip where every child won a prize. This was an opportunity

to talk to local kids as well as their parents about Blue Light

and what we do in the community. There was a BBQ and

mini golf, and kids participated in egg and spoon, sack, three

leg races and tug’o’war. This kept everyone amused while

the carts were being scrutineered and registered prior to

racing. This was no small job, with over 40 carts to process!

Racing began at 1pm. Participants were sorted into various

age categories, along with an open category. Inspector

Stuart Day was there all day, to ‘pull the lever’ and start every

race, and give out prizes at the finish.

Senior Constable Leanne Day is our Blue Light Coordinator in

Charleville. Leanne did an outstanding job of organising the

event, with a lot of help of course from the local community

It was well promoted and people travelled from afar to

compete. As well as organising registrations, trophies,

racing order and all of the things visible to the community

on the day, Leanne put a huge amount of work in behind

the scenes to ensure the safety of all participants. Every

cart was scrutineered by a qualified mechanic (QBLAI

Volunteer) who was on hand all day to make minor repairs

as needed. Leanne spent the day under a marquee at the

starting line, making sure all of the pre-race checks

happened, and then calculating the results from each heat

so that the races were seamless.

The day was a wonderful success, and people young and old

enjoyed the activities on offer. It was fantastic to see the

people from this drought ravaged community coming

together to have some fun. Even the day’s dust storm

didn't manage to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.

Above: Winners are grinners! Inspector Day awarding

some of the days prizes.

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Browns Plains Blue Light

Youth Camp On Friday March 15, 34 very excited campers aged between

10 and 14-years-old departed Logan West Community Centre

for an action packed weekend as part of the Browns Plains

Police Blue Light Camp 2019. The camp was held

at Bornhoffen Police Citizens Youth Club’s (PCYC) Leadership

Development Centre which is located at Natural Bridge in the

Gold Coast hinterland.

The kids had a memorable camp even though it started off

with complete power loss in the massive storm that passed

through. Using torches for light, the police and volunteers still

managed to cook for the kids and hold art night where they

painted Hawaii themed surfboards. Saturday was again wet

on and off but that didn’t deter the fun. The kids were

involved in ropes courses and the first ever 4 on 4 Cats Vs

Llamas soccer match which was a fantastic funny game to

watch. All up it was an excellent weekend with the kids acting

as teams and helping each other in the games and tasks they

had.

Blue Light is a police youth programme designed to encourage

better relationships between police, young people, parents

and the local community. It does this by involving young

people in supervised cultural, social and sporting activities in

an environment free from alcohol, drugs and violence. Blue

Light has developed into a crime reduction initiative, which

aims primarily to identify and address the needs of young

people who are ‘at risk’. Browns Plains Blue Light Camp

is staffed by serving police and citizens who volunteer their

time to organise and run this camp annually as a way

to inspire young people to be self-aware, to build their social

skills and to contribute positively to their community.

Colour Fun Run, Walk, Skip,

Dance for Reconciliation

A National Reconciliation Week event was held at the TYTO

precinct, Hinchinbrook on Saturday, June 1.

The event named ‘Colour fun run, walk, skip, dance’ was

aimed at bringing all members of our community together for

reconciliation.

Organised by Blue Light volunteer PLO Tracy Pryor, the day

included a Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and BBQ

so that the community could come together and share a

meal. Indigenous culture was highlighted, with the main

focus being on ALL cultural groups within the community

coming together as one in a show of consolidation and mutual

respect.

Plus the day was a heap of fun! Seven different dyes were used to represent the different tribes, clans, nationalities and cultures blending together as one.

Even Mayor of Hinchinbrook Ramon Jayo and State Member

for Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto joined in on the activities.

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State Coordinator’s Report Our 35th year in Queensland has been one of further growth

and development for Queensland Blue Light. In March our

Board of Directors had a strategic planning day, to look at

where we had come from, where we were at, and the actions

needed to take Blue Light to where we see it in the future.

Blue Light Branches around the state are trying new and

different activities to engage youth, some of them you can

read about in this newsletter. Dance parties and movie nights

remain popular in remote, regional areas, and our city

Branches are coming up with bigger and better events to

keep kids engaged.

Our Blue EDGE Program continues to grow, with ever

increasing demand for programs from schools and

communities all over Queensland. Our second evaluation of

the program by KPMG is currently being worked on, we

expect that results will be as positive as the first one

completed in June 2018.

All of this is made possible through the generosity of our

financial supporters. Despite the many hundreds of hours

given by our Police and civilian volunteers each year, we still

need funding to keep the Association and our less financial

branches functioning. Many of our small or remote branches

are in low socioeconomic areas and would not be able to

continue without external assistance.

I would also like to thank the rest of the team at State Office,

for a small team we manage to achieve some pretty big

things.

On behalf of the Board and State Office Staff, I would like to

wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe an happy

holiday season.

Paul Lincoln

Sergeant 4680

State Coordinator

Queensland Blue Light Association Incorporated

Thank You To Our

Corporate Club Supporters

2019 Queensland Blue Light would like to thank the following

Corporate Club Members for their support.

The financial contributions made by our CC members allow

us to continue our work with Queensland Youth.

We acknowledge all of our supporters, however only those

listed below have approved their inclusion in this

publication.

We encourage all of our readers to support the

quality services listed.

GOLD LEVEL SUPPORTERS ARE PRINTED IN BOLD CAPS

Silver Business Supporters are printed in Black Title Case

ACCOUNTANT .

Crowley Calvert & Associates Pty Ltd Palm Beach 07 5534 5155

DENTAL SERVICES____________________________________.

Dental on Cambridge Manly 07 3348 6661

PROPERTY DEVELOPERS .

NAPIER & BLAKELEY PTY LTD BRISBANE 07 3221 8255

TYRES___ ______.

Neta Tyre Service Northgate 07 3266 7377

Queensland Blue Light Association Incorporated

PO Box 3305, Tingalpa DC, Qld, 4173

State Coordinator: Paul Lincoln

State Administrator: Jenny Monk

Project Coordinator: Grant Gamlen

Administration Officer: Kirsty Ballinger

Phone: (07) 3909 9541

Fax: (07) 3909 9533

Email: admin@bluelightqld.org

Web: www.bluelightqld.org

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VISION: Every young person to reach their potential and live free

of crime.

MISSION: Police, community and young people achieving positive

outcomes through early intervention.

VALUES: Respect

Inclusion

Compassion