As part of the Live Well San Diego vision for Living Safely, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department will be presenting information about their Youth Advisory Initiative to the East County Community Leadership Team on February 23, 2016.

The Sheriff’s Department recognizes the value of a young person’s perspective to provide beneficial insights and information about crimes, as well as the social context in which they occur. As such, Youth Advisory Groups have been established to provide a safe and respectful forum for generating a constructive dialogue between youth and the law enforcement community.

Youth Advisory Groups will help County Sheriffs better understand the priorities, concerns and issues youth face within the communities they serve. The workshops will provide an opportunity for youth and law enforcement to work together to find solutions to address any issues raised. In order to be truly meaningful and effective, the workshops will not be limited to just law enforcement topics but are open to other emerging youth issues, such as bullying and social media interactions.

Information shared through Youth Advisory Groups will also help law enforcement identify and prioritize at-risk youth populations and better allocate crime fighting resources accordingly. As such, Youth Advisory Groups will directly support the Department’s Information Led Policing, which is a crime-prevention strategy that uses data analysis of crime trends and known offenders to solve crimes more quickly. 

Crimes that involve youth, whether they are victims or perpetrators, have a significant and lasting impact on the quality of life in our communities. As youth are considered a vulnerable population, law enforcement not only has the responsibility for bringing those that commit crimes against youth to justice, but also the responsibility to prevent such crimes from occurring. The goal is to provide a secure and safe environment for youth to thrive. 

For more information about the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, visit: http://www.sdsheriff.net/index.html

For more information about the East Region Community Leadership Team or to be included on their email list, please email Catie Linfesty.