Teens get set for live lesson in street-wise safety scenarios

HUNDREDS of Limerick teenagers will take a walk down ‘Safety Street’ today, Ireland’s first purpose-built interactive centre where young people can experience various realistic scenarios in a safe environment.

Over the coming three days the transition year students will be asked to navigate three realistic safety scenarios brought to life by volunteer actors from the University of Limerick.

The scenarios include:

* Personal Safety – Short Dark Alley v Long Bright Way Home.

* Life After Drugs – Tales from a recovering addict.

* That’s not ASB? – Impact of Antisocial Behaviour.

Each scenario will be followed by discussions and Q&A sessions with representatives from Limerick City Council, Health Service Executive and Garda Síochána.

The initiative has been organised by Limerick’s Community Coordinators (employees of LCCSP – Limerick City Community Safety Partnership Ltd) to encourage teenagers to identify everyday hazards and develop safe strategies to deal with potential emergencies, changing their behaviour to keep themselves and others safe.

“We have consulted with our partner agencies when developing the scenarios and held a focus group with local teenagers to get their feedback on the scenarios,” Jenny Stone, Limerick Community Co-ordinators said. “The event provides an excellent opportunity to see the constructive and practical actions taken by LCCSP to tackle issues around drugs, antisocial behaviour and personal safety.”

Students will be presented with safety packs on completion with advice and products to promote personal safety. Limerick City Council, the HSE, the Gardaí and the Road Safety Authority have all provided supplies for these packs and representatives will be available to talk to the teenagers at the event.

Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Maria Byrne said the initiative is “a clever and innovative” way to highlight various personal and safety issues through interactive scenarios.

The Limerick Community Coordinators are modelled on a very successful scheme in Britain. This scheme – the first partnership of its kind in the country – was set up as a pilot project in 2007 to help communities solve a range of social problems. It is financed by the Department of the Environment and monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis by the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick.