A police department in Canada started giving out 'positive tickets' to kids as a reward for doing good things and to help motivate them to stay out of trouble. After a constable realized that the area he was in charge of had many negative feelings towards police and had high crime rates with many of the youth getting involved with criminal activity as well, he wanted to come up with a program to improve public opinion and keep teens out of trouble. He then came up with the idea of "positive tickets" such as movie passes, coupons for free food, activity passes etc... which would be given to kids when found doing something good like obeying helmet regulations or speaking respectfully. Many people in the community even donated money to fund the tickets because they saw the potential it gave to improve their youth and community.
I really loved this article, I think it is a great solution to improve a community with high crime rates. I think it's even more fabulous that so many others see the potential in such a great program that they are willing to donate to keep it running. It's amazing the good that can be done to minimize the amount of incarcerated adults by solving the problem before they even make the mistakes that would land them there. -Sam Stromness
Posotive Tickets
It is a great idea - kind of like the mule and the carrot idea (a mule will be more willing to move if a carrot is placed in front of it than if it's hit with a stick from behind). I just hope that the kids like the tickets just as much as the adults, or they'll think it's a childish idea and keep engaging in crime.
ReplyDeleteThis idea is good, but i dont think it will last. There will run a day when those tickets run dry, and those children will think there's no reason to follow the rules anymore. I prefer the stick rather than the carrot when it comes to humans.
ReplyDelete