Constable Care

Originally conceived in 1989, the Constable Care Child Safety Foundation is a not for profit community organisation working in partnership with the Western Australia Police, to educate children and young people in primary and secondary schools across the State about safety, crime prevention, ethics and good decision making. Constable Care is a nationally registered harm prevention charity and utilises theatre-in-education, and in particular applied theatre, to deliver its education messages.

The Constable Care Child Safety Foundation tours throughout Western Australia delivering interactive theatre workshops, plays and puppet theatre programs. Based in Maylands WA, the organisation employs professional actors who visit over 700 schools a year including remote indigenous community schools. The performances are supported by curriculum-linked classroom resources and tailored to the learning needs of students from pre-primary to Year 10, covering topics such as bullying, alcohol abuse, protective behaviours, cultural understanding, graffiti prevention, road safety, violence prevention and environmental protection. Students' change in knowledge, attitude and behavioural intent towards each topic is measured pre and post performance incursion through teacher-administered surveys developed through Constable Care's ongoing university research partnerships.

As of June 2015, over 2.3 million Western Australian children had participated in a Constable Care performance, with around 120,000 students taking part each year. The Constable Care brand celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014 and has now performed for three generations of WA children.

TRG Theatrical Response Group

In late 2013 Constable Care launched its youth brand Theatrical Response Group (TRG), a tongue-in-cheek nod to the organisation's long standing connection with WA Police. TRG Theatrical Response Group undertakes theatre workshops in WA's secondary schools using applied theatre techniques to involve students in discussion and problem-solving on serious youth issues such as cyberbullying and binge drinking. The organisation uses the Forum Theatre approach developed by Brazilian Augusto Boal as its methodology for engaging students, and undertakes a significant number of touring workshops as well as a smaller number of in-residence extended school interventions each year. In September 2014 the organisation trialled this approach in remote Aboriginal schools in the Pilbara region, placing indigenous actors and facilitators in classrooms to work with students for up to 2 weeks at a time.

Community Mascot

The Constable Care mascot can be seen at upwards of 60 community events across Perth and Western Australia each year, including Telethon events, the Perth Christmas Pageant, Perth Royal Show, Mandurah Crab Fest, Joondalup Festival and many other metropolitan and regional events. The non-speaking mascot's role is to interact with children and families at events to provide a positive first experience of police for young children. The mascot and a trained helper undertake event walkarounds, stopping for photographs and giving away handouts such as stickers and cardboard police hats. At larger events such as the Telethon Kids Carnival, the mascot takes part in safety-themed song and dance performances on stage with actors from the Constable Care Performance Company. The Constable Care mascot was recognised at a ceremony in June 2014 at the Western Australian Police Academy for 25 years of service to the WA community, receiving the regimental number 12020 and the status of Senior Constable. At a ceremony in August 2014, the Commissioner of WA Police Karl O'Callaghan presented the mascot with a 25-year service medal.

WA Child Safety Awards

Introduced in 2012, Constable Care’s major annual event is the Constable Care Child Safety Awards. This independent statewide awards program was created to celebrate the achievements of remarkable Western Australians dedicated to protecting children and young people from harm and creating safer environments and communities. Attended by State Government Ministers, community dignitaries, senior government and agency officials, corporate supporters and the child and youth safety sector, and sponsored by Seven Network, The West Australian, Mix 94.5 and the WA Department for Child Protection and Family Support, the awards recognise seven individual and program categories that reflect innovation and outstanding achievement in the field. The recipient of the Child Safety Award of the Year is the outstanding winner from one of the categories, as judged by an independent panel of high profile West Australians. The 2015 Constable Care Child Safety Awards Gala Presentation Ceremony was held on 1 August 2015 in the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre BelleVue Ballroom.

In 2016 the organisation made the decision to restructure the Awards program to a biennial format, with the next Awards to take place in August 2017. The program has also changed its name to the WA Child Safety Awards and will be presented in partnership with Kidsafe WA.

Lost Child Services

The Constable Care Child Safety Foundation provides Lost Child Services at the Perth Royal Show, Christmas Pageant, Channel Seven Perth Telethon Kids Carnival, Mandurah Crab Fest, City of Perth Skyworks and many other family-oriented community events in Western Australia. The service distributes contact information stickers and armbands to families arriving at events so they can be quickly reunited with their children should they become separated, and also provides highly visible staffed family meeting points within the event to locate missing children rapidly and with a minimum of trauma.

Comfort Packs Program

In 2014 Constable Care launched a Comfort Packs program, in partnership with WA Police and supported by Freemasons WA. The program aims to supply frontline emergency service workers with care packs to give to children who are being temporarily relocated from their homes due to accident, emergency or as a result of crime. The backpacks are age and gender appropriate and contain necessities such as pyjamas, underwear, toothbrush and paste, soap, shampoo and conditioner, hair brush, story book, teddy bear, etc. They are available at no cost to WA Police, Fire and Emergency Services and Child Protection workers and are delivered wherever required in the State.

Video Productions

In 2011, the organisation released "Constable Care and the A-Grades" debut single, entitled Merry Christmas, which achieved over 20,000 views on YouTube in its first month. This was the organisation's first foray into film making and was followed by two further Christmas videos in 2012 and 2013. The organisation started working in partnership in 2014 with Edith Cowan University WA Screen Academy on a series of online interactive youth crime prevention films, with the first on binge drinking among teenage girls released in June 2015. Two further interactive films on young male aggression (Shirtfront) and car theft (Wreck) were released in September 2015 and December 2015 respectively. In 2016 the organisation introduced a secondary schools' competition for Year 10-12 students to identify a topic and storyline for each new film, and the 2016 winning entry is currently being developed into a fourth film (Pressure) on the mental health impact of marijuana use, with an expected release date of December 2016. The organisation continues to produce one youth-devised online interactive product each year under its online "Your Call" films banner.

Safety School

Constable Care commenced planning in late 2012 to build and operate a road and transport safety experiential learning centre for children aged 4–11 years at its site in Maylands. The centre will provide a fully functioning urban streetscape area, including working traffic signalling, scale buildings, rail platform and crossing, and include an augmented reality experience that will enable children to learn pedestrian, bike and public transport safety skills in a realistic environment. The organisation is on track to open the centre in mid 2017, allowing students and families to develop improved road safety awareness in a fun, safe and curriculum-linked learning space.

Patrons

Constable Care has three official patrons who attend its events and provide advice and support to the organisation. They are Commissioner of WA Police Karl O'Callaghan, Western Australian Chief Justice Wayne Martin and actor and comedian Peter Rowsthorn.

Board

The Board of Constable Care constitutes individuals drawn from business, academia, government, education, marketing, media, the arts and community services. The current Board Chair is Professor Carolyn Dickie, Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University Business School.

CEO

David Gribble is the chief executive officer of the Constable Care Child Safety Foundation Incorporated. He took over from former CEO Vick Evans in January 2011.

Former Employees

Television personality Rove McManus was once a Constable Care performer.

Vick Evans was the chief executive officer of the Constable Care Child Safety Foundation Incorporated for 14 years from 1998 to early 2011. He was credited with generating corporate support and securing ongoing government funding for the program. Vick Evans was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2010 and died in April 2011. He was succeeded by current CEO, David Gribble.

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