Justices of the peace and senior police officers from across the island are now in a better position to ensure that the rights of children within the justice system are proteccted.

This is as a result of them participating in a training seminar staged by the Office of the Children’s Advocate in Hanover over the weekend.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison said if the rights of children are going to be protected, police officers and justices of the peace need to understand and adopt the Child Justice Guidelines.

“In my own view, who better to have the dialogue with than our very own police officers and justices of the peace because we need you as our strategic partners in this process,” Gordon Harrison said as she addressed police officers and justices of the peace at the Grand Pallidum Resort and Spa in Hanover.

“It is you who are the first responders at the police stations and in the communities that you serve as JPs and you are our eyes, our ears and many times the ones who have the opportunity to shape the view or the perspective of a child who must come in contact with what they called the system,” she said.

She said the Child Justice Guidelines is a resource handbook of measures that first responders should follow when dealing with children.