Sergeant Steve Marshall is calling on the youth of Corowa to do the right thing and intends to reward them for it, with prizes up for grabs for following the road rules.
Pushed beyond frustration with the use of illegal e-scooters, Sgt Marshall has come up with a two-pronged solution to get kids back onto foot powered vehicles and improve the look of the local skate park.
The local police will hand out tickets to kids as a reward for doing the right thing by riding push scooters instead of e-scooters, push bikes and legal e-bikes instead of illegal ones, and wearing a helmet properly.
“Instead of being down on them and being the fun police, I thought it might be better to target the kids doing the right thing,” Sgt Marshall said.
“It's too dangerous for us to chase the e-scooters and the kids on e-bikes.
“Every kid that we see riding their bike, complying with the law - so wearing a helmet, riding the right type of bike, riding the right type of scooter - they're going to get a ticket.
“It's going to be a raffle ticket, and we're going to give as many out as we can.
“There's no limit to how many raffle tickets you get, so every time we see you doing the right thing, we're going to give you a ticket.”
Tickets will be drawn on a date yet to be determined in April.
It will coincide with a day set up by the primary prevention team for local kids to work with an artist to come up with ideas to paint the insides of the two shelter sheds at the skate park.
Federation Primary Prevention Team has secured a grant to have the sheds painted to detract from their current drab appearance and deter vandals from tagging them.
“We're selecting an artist to paint the inside of the shelter sheds,” Sgt Marshall said.
“The artist will come to town and work with the kids on a design.
“My way of bringing the kids here and getting them involved is drawing that raffle.
“I’m hoping to give out up to 500 tickets and give away 10 to 20 prizes of $50 to $100 vouchers for businesses in this town.
“So, this one’s for the kids – get out there and do the right thing, lead by example and there could be a prize coming your way.”
The Federation Primary Prevention team is a community-led coalition supported by Council, Police, local schools and community members.
The initiative aims to prevent alcohol and drug related issues before they occur by implementing evidence-based strategies, reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors.
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