Concerns In Our Community

• Ask students to individually make a list of concerns that occur in their local communities and wider neighbourhood. Students share and discuss their list with a partner.
  • Pose the question, “Are these concerns all crimes, or are they non-criminal community concerns?” As a class decide on some suitable headings that these concerns can be divided into (examples of headings for crimes can be found on the Crime Stoppers WA website – Crime Types page).  Classify the concerns under appropriate headings.
• Organise the class into small groups. Ask each group to select from their list a criminal concern and devise a role play about it. Provide the groups with access to the Role Play Planning resource to help with the planning process. The role play is to include:
  • How the concern affects the community / neighbourhood
  • Two possible solutions to the concern; one by individual citizens and the other by government (note that the solutions must abide by the principles within the Australian Affirmation)
  • Why people will feel safe in the community once this concern is successfully dealt with

Case Study: Drug Dealing

• Drug-related crimes and criminal activity are the most common reason for citizens to contact Crime Stoppers. Using a call out, consider the adverse effects on a community from illicit drugs.  You may wish to refer to the resource Impact of Ice and Drugs on Communities.
• Show students the three Crime Stoppers scenarios/videos in their drug campaign:  They’ll never know it was you – Protect your family; In over your head; and Work should be safe and discuss the key messages in each video.
• Ask students to create a Word Cloud using a Word Cloud app to explain how these scenarios appeal to people’s emotions and encourage positive community action. Conduct a class discussion focusing on the key words they used and why they are powerful visually.
• Using the Crime Stoppers news item Six things a drug dealer won’t tell you, students investigate and discuss as a class, the reasons for using this campaign, and how community members can provide information to Crime Stoppers about drug-related criminal activity.
• Ask students to design, as a class, a strategy for sharing the information contained within these articles with other students in the school. Remember that the purpose of the exercise will be to promote positive student action.
• You can explore Drug Crime in more depth here.

Case Study: Cyber bullying and eSafety

Citizens in a democracy hopefully make decisions based on good information. In 2016 the Oxford Dictionary picked “Post-truth” as their word for the year. This word is used in circumstances where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Posts on social media will often be designed to appeal to these traits influencing people to act in positive or negative ways.

• Negative use of social media is experienced by young people in situations of cyber bullying which is designed to reinforce a negative emotion or belief about a person. Discuss with students why cyber bullying has now become a crime in Australia.
• For information about the crime of cyber bullying and what individuals can do to stop it research the Lawstuff website (both national and state based information is provided). Ask students to create a mood poster that explains the steps that individuals can take when faced with cyber bullying. Once completed, display the posters around the room and ask students to vote for the most effective poster. Discuss as a class why the winning poster was so popular. When designing your mood poster, think about the colours, patterns, images and words you will use to best convey your message.
• eSafety is another cyber issue facing young people today. Unwanted contact via the internet is any type of online communication young people may find unpleasant or confronting, or that leads them into a situation where they might do something they regret. Unwanted contact is not limited to ‘strangers’ – it can happen even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can also be online ‘friends’ they have not met face-to-face, or from someone they actually know.
  • View Tips To Be Smart Online – keeping you and your friends safe from unwanted contact and discuss as a class the key messages about keeping safe online and what skills students may need to be resilient online.
  • You may wish to explore the Bullying theme in more detail with your students. Bullying Through The Maze is an interactive scenario developed as part of a Constable Care Child Safety Foundation suite of resources.  A range of teacher resources and activity ideas are provided.
  • Digital citizenship can be explored in more depth here.

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