A TEAM who have been championing young people and helping them stay out of trouble through a community garden has been honoured an annual police award ceremony.

The overall winner at Durham Police POP Conference was Cultivating Change, represented by Temporary Chief Inspector Lee Blakelock, PCSO Michelle Burr, Peterlee Town Mayor Scott Meikle and 16-year-old Olivia Ward.

The project, was one of 12 showcasing how officers and staff from across the force have been adopting a problem-oriented policing approach to address issues of concern in their neighbourhoods.

The Peterlee team created the Young Heroes event which honours people under 18 who have done something positive, produced the Peterlee Community Garden and secured £70,000 worth of funding from Peterlee Town Council for sustainable youth provision in the town.

The monthly Young Heroes award teases out inspirational stories from the community with nominations coming from schools, parents and police, with the winner is presented with a trophy, certificate and gift voucher.

PCSO Michelle Burr said: “The overall aim is to show the wider community that young people are creative, inspirational and brave.”

A community garden has also been created in Woodhouse Park with land which was donated by Peterlee Town Council and work funded by Durham County Council.

PCSO Burr said: “This garden is about giving young people something they can be proud of and take responsibility for, which is our way of bringing the community together around something really positive.”

Young people from Groundwork North East, local schools, residents associations and other groups are given care of their own flower beds and vegetable patches. The crops are grown, harvested and donated to food banks and care homes in the Peterlee area. Holme House Prison also donate plants to support the continuation of the scheme.

The team also set up a youth club in the town centre with sessions on Thursdays and Fridays, which include engagement about topics such as alcohol, smoking and sexual health. This is ran by Groundwork North East.

Olivia Ward is one of the youngsters who has benefited from the police’s work. She was was part of the pilot scheme Sliding Doors which facilitates work experience for youngsters from East Durham College, in a joint partnership between the police and Durham County Council.

PCSO Burr said: “It helps disengaged pupils gain work experience at Peterlee Leisure Centre as well as gaining an NVQ in construction. It’s about changing patterns of behaviour and giving them transferable skills. Olivia won’t mind me saying that she was one of the worst behaved before our intervention and now she has turned her life around and I am so proud of her.

“We are arguably good at enforcement but it’s about more than that, it’s about engagement and education running alongside that. The three E’s.”

Olivia said: “I used to be really naughty and Michelle came along and helped us through loads. She got me work experience with Durham County Council and her and Scott, the mayor, got me an apprenticeship with Gleeson Homes. A teacher said that I would never get a job and I’d be on the dole. I rang them last week and told them I’d got a job.”

She and her friend Courtney Roberts were also be awarded a ‘young heroes award’ after helping PCSO Burr with two 16-year-old girls who had taken ecstasy in the town centre last month. They brought one of the girls to the youth club to be looked safely with PCSO Burr while response cops searched for the second girl who had ran away.

PSCO Burr said: “Olivia is a prime example of why we started this and I am so pleased that she was able to be with us to accept the award.

“We were all was amazed, astonished and thrilled that we won.”

"We wanted to put Peterlee on map for all right reasons and bridge the gap between the police and the public and promote the positives of young people instead of the negatives with an overall aim of reducing anti-social behaviour."