NZ Police Youth Education Service

The Police Youth Education Service (YES) aims to enhance community safety by the delivery and promotion of police education programmes and services to youth in partnership with schools.




YES works with schools to proactively prevent crime, victimisation and road trauma, enhance the safety of schools and their communities, and maintain law and order.

YES has four themes:
Full details of each of these programmes can be found by clicking on the links above. 

Education programmes and resources have been developed with four strategic themes.

Effective partnership

Teachers and Police Education Officers (PEOs) work in partnership to deliver these YES programmes to students.

Positive and effective partnerships between teachers and Police Education Officers:
  • show a mutual concern for the safety and well-being of children and young people
  • involve working together to plan lessons and programmes that meet the needs of a specific class
  • are co-operative and show mutual respect
  • jointly seek the support and assistance from parents and the community
  • involve team teaching, joint evaluation and forward planning
  • pool expertise, knowledge and resources.

Police Education Officers

Police Education Officers(PEO) are experienced  uniformed police officers who specialise in education delivery to schools and their communities. Each PEO has a certain number of primary and secondary schools to which they offer YES programmes.

Police Education Officers:
  • relate positively to children and young persons,
  • make educational programmes available to schools,
  • work with teachers to plan, implement and evaluate classroom lessons,
  • use a variety of teaching methods and resources for a range of school levels,
  • support schools when they consult with parents and the community,
  • establish links between the school and the local Police,
  • provide a positive role model for students.

The whole-school approach

Many YES programmes are based on a whole-school approach. This means that the whole school and its community has a common understanding of the issues and are committed to the programme. Material is included for parents and caregivers, staff members and students, and any relevant policies and procedures are written and reviewed.

A good example of a whole school approach is the Kia Kaha anti-bullying programme.

The NZ Police website has many additional resources which you can view as follows:


Contact details:


Youth Education Services
Police National Headquarters 
180 Molesworth Street 
DX SX11149 
Wellington 

Telephone: 04 474 9499       
Fax: 04 470 7140
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