Across the last 18 seasons of the Clink, We have had some really raw conversations. This is one of most listened to episodes with Will Smith.
Former Tasmanian police officer Will Smith has dedicated his life to saving young people caught in the cycle of crime, violence, and addiction. In this powerful “Best Of” episode, Will opens up about the heart and grit behind his JCP Youth program — a raw, hands-on mission that runs 24/7 to pull kids off the streets and rebuild their lives.
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Episode Transcript
Approach production.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
That's my head.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
But you know what I mean, I know where I
can push myself and beyond, and I mean these young
people that start to understand that it is very powerful.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
So we literally created this structure of getting these kids
to understand that they were capable of good things, they
were capable of big things. We put them through intensive,
intensive gym sessions that you know, the kids are vomiting
and spewing up, and we push them. We push them
physically and mentally, and then we create a structure around them.
So I'm sitting in a building now that's what we
call safe house. There's six emergency beds here. You know,
(00:49):
we provide will provide kids niting, So we provide them
benevolent relief, food, transport, will pay for all their clothes,
will pay for schooling, and we go next level. If
a kid says that he wants to play, professional support will.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Make it happen.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
We create connections even up there Inland. You know, we've
got kids that are engaged. We've taken boys that want
to be boxers up to Glen Azar and they've trained
with Taylor Robinson.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And gone into She's a Legends. Yeah, we've gone into.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
You know, Jeff Horn's house to you know where he trains,
and we will just hook up as many things as
we can. We've flown boys up to Queensland six times
now for different experiences.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We will go and above and beyond.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
It will buy kids a fine, we'll get them a
proper phone, and we'll get them proper cloud. We're not
going to kmart and buying a gear because you know
they need emergency care. We'll fit them out and we'll
we'll do anything. But there's a there's a sense of
loyalty attached. If we're going to do all this for
you and we're going to take control of your life
and help you out, you're going to give back. It's
not free. You will pay us back through reform and
(01:54):
creating a story of redemption and listen to this brand.
We've got eighty kids that have engaged our program. Some
of those are from the mainland. They're high risk boys,
mostly from that come from the mainland. We've got kids
that are low end of the scale.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So haven't had so sorry, well with your main land,
can we just be a little bit more We talking
Victoria Mainland or is it when you say Maine.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
We've had a couple of boys, a couple of boys
from New South Wales, one from Queensland, and a few
from Victoria that come down to engage with us.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So you will, you will if it fits the criteria,
take on somebody from me.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's got to be the right fit. Yeah, it's got
to be the right fit.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I think that our mainland participants that come down. Firstly,
I won't let them leave unless they've spent fifteen weeks here.
Now we'll accommodate and feed them, do everything, but I
need at least fifteen weeks before I trust a kid
to go, so you're you know, outside of that, you know,
(02:50):
once the kid's been here, and because you've got to
have that process, then to go.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Through the camps to earn your spot, to meet the
other boys, engage what the program is.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
So then once you come through that process, TAZZI is
a lot easier because they live in community.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
They only come and stay here in this safe house.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
If they've been kicked out of home or they know
they've done something stupid in the community or school, we'll
drag them off the street, bring them back here, reset
them and then put them back out. So the process
that we create is that we've got eighty boys now,
so out of our eighty this year, and you got
to understand, some are low level, some a high level.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
So we work with the state's worst defender.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
But we can't work with all the worst defenders because
we just don't agree if.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You combine them, do you put them all within the
one group? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
At times?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
How does that balance up? Sometimes? Mate, when you've.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Gone four years, we've never had a fight. We've never
had a physical engagement. We do an activity called first Down,
So if there's an issue, we'll create a circle. The
two boys with an issue will get in and they're
allowed to wrestle until one of them hits the ground.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And we do this activity. We've got we've had.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Police involved in it, we've had but it's a safe,
coordinated activity.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
We've got insurance that covers everything is there in place.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
But we've never had two boys added on the program
because there's a level of respect that to be shine.
We don't have kids that they're not They walk through
these doors, they won't swear, they won't step out of line.
Everyone will contribute. We drive a very very high expectation,
like we live what we call an elite life. So
(04:19):
it's like I'm going to I'll change your life, but
you're on board with every aspect of it, and I'll
do anything. So if you say you want to be
a bod professional boxer, I'm not just going to go, oh, well,
let's get you involved in it in a gym. I'll
take you an in judicial to you know, I'll create
connections and take you an intush.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You'll have the pachways to give that direction to go
and follow if that young person is willing and showing
potential and commitment to Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Out of those eighty boys, thirteen of them are student
leaders in schools across TAZZI today too, are school captains.
The school captain of one of the biggest Catholic colleges
in the state has been in our program now for
three years. Seven of our boys represent the state in
different sports. One's recently been looked at by the Lympic
community in relation.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
To you know, he selected sport as well.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
So we and it's so important for me to mention
that we do have two boys still in detention, and
we still have kids that are still on their journey
and offending on the street.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So what's the age group will what's what's the oldest
to the youngest that you work with.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
We won't work with anyone younger than eleven. However, we
have taken on board and done some engagement with a
nine year old before, but he was next next level.
But eleven really is too young sort of, twelve thirteen
is a good age for them to come in. We
won't accept anyone coming in that's younger than seventeen, and
the reason is that and a.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Lot of people older than seventeen, So.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Seventeen is that is the oldest will accept into the program.
We've got kids now that are nineteen twenty, but they've
been in the program for a few years.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Mentor style. Young people now are helping the next level.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
We have more volunteers that have been through the program
than we have outside of it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Awesome, So they come.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Through the program that grade way, they come back and volunteer, and.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
What a sense of worth that must give them.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
But I'm now able to have walked that path, and
this is what I'm talking about, the lived experience factor.
You know, you've got young men who have come through
your your structured program that are successes that are now
actually able to give back to these next engaging into
the program.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That's phenomenal, and.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That's the whole goal. We have this real assessment.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Our goal is to successfully transition the kid into adulthood.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
We don't give up on anyone.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
And the process is that they go through this wheel assessment.
There's eight things that we assess them on and then
once they've ticked all aid off, then what we do
is we start looking at ways that they can give
back to all the other boys. So there are three
particular stages of the program. They take eight boxes and
then they can come and give back, volunteer on programs,
they can instruct activities. Right, we're going to take these
(06:57):
boys up a mountain and we're going to do it
in pitch black dark. But you're going to lead. I'm
not going to say shit the whole time. So you're
going to lead, do all the safety stuff, give the instructions.
From the outlook, it might look a little militarized of
what we do, but it's not at all. It's all
about providing love, nurture, validation. They are the three core
aspects of what we do. The one thing that sets
(07:19):
us apart and I have someone I did a speech
today someone asked this question, what's the secret to the
program For me? The secret is we offer twenty four hour,
seven day week response, so we have response vehicles. And
what happens is if a kid calls up, and we
only offer it to kids in our program, we just can't.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Offer it community wide unfortunately.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But if a kid calls up and something's happened, you know,
there's been a domestic home, they've got in trouble at school,
they're about to go punch on with a mate, they
feel like they're going to go and jump on the
ice again, or something's going on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
They can call us and I'll if I'm on call,
I'll get in the car and go see them.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Or if one of the other boys are on call,
they'll jump in the car and we'll go and respond
to them.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And it doesn't matter what the hour is, we'll go
and figure it out.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
We've created this, We created this program that doesn't happen
anywhere in the country.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I absolutely, without pissing in your pocket, this is
this is phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
This, this is the boots on.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The ground sort of shit that has to happen ye
to make a difference, And this is wow.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
So the reality is like we a'll finished this podcast now,
and I know I've got two messages on my phone
that are sitting there.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
But there's a kid.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
If you can touch bose with him, he's at Nicked house,
So like, you know, I can say that.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
But there's a boy in the community right now. It's
from the mainland.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
He's come to Tazy. We've just recently met him. When
we met him, he hadn't showered in more than eight weeks.
He hadn't had a proper feed in a couple of weeks,
and he done some ram raids here in Lonnie, had
been evolved in some violent crime. We found him out
on the street, brought him back here. We threw him
a shower. He couldn't even stand under the water. He
couldn't stand under the water because the water hurt his
(09:02):
feet too much because he hadn't taken socks off in
ten weeks now, his feet were molded together.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
It was just it was discussing.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
One of the guys actually said, this is one of
the most confronting things I've seen. But that kid's on
the ice, is on the gear is so we've been
pulling him off that We've been doing a lot of
intensive work, but he's just taking a step back. And
it's a Sunday afternoon, it's five point thirty eight pm.
And when I finished this, I'll jump. We've got a
guy out and a response to Eagle now trying to
find him, and I'm getting message after message after message.
(09:30):
Oh he's at this house and he's jumped through this
window and he's gone here, and we'll eventually find him
tonight and we'll bring him back here.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
So that's the type of frontline response.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Without sort of going into too much because obviously obviously
there's certain things obviously disclosures and stuff like that. Of course, Yeah,
could this be you know, a relapsed episode where he's
now sort of hit the ice hypothetical like you sort
of we're saying where and he's now just on a
full engaged.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Bender, or is this.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah, this is a fourteen year old boy that's back
out in the community and trying to find Gear because.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
So he might maybe hanging out at the moment on
the hunt.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
He's on the hunt, yeah, and our goal is to
intercept him before it gets it. The good thing is
is that we've got a bit of a reputation in
the community that if if I put the call out
and say I'm looking for a kid, no one wants
to touch him. So it's sort of like, you know,
they're sort of sending messages going, hey, he's been around here,
or he's.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Knocked on this door.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And because people understand that, there's a lot of work
that goes into this, but I can, you know, and
I'm happy I'll share stories with you that people wouldn't believe,
like we we at times as a community, we create
youth offenders, and you know we've I can tell you
a story one of the first stories that really grinded me.
And really when you talk about that fence from policing
(10:48):
to community, I would at times, and this is the
police officers that might listen to this, would share this
mentality of like, you deal with a kid and just think, mate,
you need to be locked up, and you need to
get off our streets and you're just causing me, and
you do anything to go and hunt that kid down
and make sure that he wasn't causing any more harm.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
To the commun unity.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
But then the flip side to that is I remember
we got a call once and someone said, oh, have
you heard about the boy in the bush and I said, no, no,
I don't know what you're talking about. They said, we've
just heard that Child Protection have picked a kid up
from his detention. They've taken into purchased a tent and
placed him up in the bush.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I said, oh, surely that hasn't happened.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And a couple of days later, after searching for this kid,
we got notified by a contact that we had of
where he was, and we went up into the bush
and we found this kid. And that story is one
hundred percent true, that we had a young person in
government care that's taken out of distinction into homelessness and
purchased a tent middle of winter here in Tazi, a
non water proof tent.
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