Young people step into the shoes of civil servants at the Lifewise Centre during Local Democracy Week

South Yorkshire Police with the Rother Valley South Area Assembly Team have arranged a challenge with a twist for young people as part of Local Democracy Week, held at the Lifewise Centre in Hellaby. Pupils from a number of schools in Rotherham have been invited to the Lifewise Centre on Wednesday, 10 October 2012 to take part in the challenge and win a trip to the Houses of Parliament. The Lifewise Centre is an interactive learning centre for South Yorkshire communities, developed by South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. Featuring a purpose-built film-set, it is used to educate visitors about safety and citizenship with the ultimate aim of reducing crime and improving quality of life. The challenge will be scenario based and will allow students to experience for a few hours what it would be like to step into the shoes of elected members, officers from South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council employees to make decisions and try to resolve a variety of community issues. The young people will be given an imaginary budget of £100,000 to spend on tackling issues, which could include antisocial behaviour, messy gardens, litter, broken windows, deliberate fires, or drugs. Representatives from each organisation will be on hand to advise the young people and help them decide which issues they would like to tackle and most importantly, how much money they would like to allocate to tackle each issue. Judges will mark each group of young people on how they tackle the challenge and each school will then present back to the judges. The winning school will win a trip to the Houses of Parliament in London. PC Paul Hamshaw, Young Persons Police Officer based in Rotherham said: “Each group will have a budget to spend on rectifying the problems raised in various imaginary scenarios. The aim is to replicate a safer neighbourhood team where partners come together, identify local issues and decide which agency is best to tackle the issues raised. Each team will give a presentation to decide who has made the greatest impact and used the money wisely.”