KINGSTON, Jamaica — National Security Minister, Robert Montague is urging youths who participated in the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s IPAD Summer Camp to become change agents.

Montague encouraged campers to continue on the path of positivity in his address at the closing ceremony for the Youth Empowerment and Mentorship Residential Summer Camp held last Friday at the Iona High School in St Mary.

“Being a part of the IPAD programme shows that you are a part of the change. Continue to be a change agent. Be the one to encourage other youth to go to school, listen to their parents and believe in themselves,” Montague stated.

The closing ceremony marked the end of the first phase of the IPAD programme. The second phase will involve one year mentorship training for youth on the programme to be monitored by the JCF, the school and parents. The third phase will include family visits from JCF officers to the homes of those on the programme.

The minister lauded the facilitators for the programme, which has had a significant impact on deterring youth from violence and has created partnerships at the community level among members of the JCF, the school community and parents. He further encouraged parents who also received training as a part of the camp to listen to their children.

The IPAD programme, an acronym for Identity, Purpose, Attitude and Destiny, began in Westmoreland, and has since been expanded to the JCF’s five policing areas, was designed to help youth develop the resilience and social skills required to cope with the risk factors they face in their homes, communities, schools and the wider society.

The programme falls squarely within the ministry’s five-pillar crime reduction strategy. Its emphasis is on the pillars of crime prevention through social development and effective policing.