June 2002 Volume 83 Number 6 "serving the protectors"

It could be the biggest disco ever held in South Australia – 4,000 people will converge on Morphettville in July to commemorate 20 years of the state’s Blue Light operations.

The first official SA Police Blue Light function was a disco in Old Noarlunga, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, held on July 30, 1982. Since then, Blue Light has grown to 33 alcohol and drug-free discos annually, and the program has expanded into camps, training workshops and even competitive sailing, with 43,000 people taking part in Blue Light activities every year.

A monstrous disco, made possible in part by sponsorship from Police Credit Union, will celebrate 20 successful years of Blue Light operations in South Australia.

PCU chief executive officer, Geoff Doyle, says the Credit Union is proud to sponsor the 20th anniversary event, both because of Blue Light’s benefit to the community and also because PCU seeks to sponsor groups directly affiliated with its own core membership – police, nurses and the ambulance service.

“We fully support the activities of Blue Light and look forward to a close working relationship with them,” Geoff says.

Event organiser, Blue Light state co-ordinator Sergeant Graham Brett, says South Australia originally picked up the Blue Light concept from Victoria.

“A group of police officers had noticed young people hanging around the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. And they noticed that, after a while, these kids tended to start getting involved in shoplifting or other types of behavioural offences. And the main thing behind it was they had no place to go or anything to do,” Sergeant Brett says.

“In the late ’80s, Hindley Street (in Adelaide) was attracting young people and youth at risk, and a group of police officers from what was then the Bank St Police Station started working with these kids and taking them on a Blue Light camp.”

One of the officers initially involved in the camps was Bill Prior, now the chief inspector with overall responsibility for the Blue Light program.

He says one of the program’s major benefits, especially when it first started, was that it broke down barriers between police and young people. He remembers during one Grand Prix when kids in Hindley Street set up a hot dog stand to raise money for a youth support group.

“Just getting those sorts of kids to come along and actually do something for you was a major achievement,” Chief Inspector Prior says.

As a result of early successes, more discos were established and Blue Light also began sending young people on trips aboard the “One and All” sail training vessel.

John Hookings, a police officer and dinghy enthusiast based at Tumby Bay on the Eyre Peninsula, joined in and some of his Blue Light sailing protégés have since travelled to Sydney, where they’ve performed well in World Series events.

Blue Light has also acquired major campsites at Iron Knob on the Eyre Peninsula and at Millicent in the south-east.

Since 1994, Blue Light has operated a successful Friday night drop-in centre in Leigh Creek, a coal town in the state’s far north. Blue Light has also tackled a school truancy problem at Oodnadatta by organizing bike riding activities – only those who are at school that day can participate.

Blue Light is also now assisting victims of crime, with a self-esteem and confidence-boosting camp for young women who have been raped or seriously sexually assaulted.

Ready to party?

Some time soon, Blue Light in South Australia will welcome its one-millionth participant – and it is likely to be someone attending the discos at Morphettville on July 27.

To celebrate Blue Light’s 20th anniversary, two discos at the same venue – one for today’s young “Blue Lighters” and the other for anyone who has attended a Blue Light disco during the past 20 years.

Chunky Custard and Planet Square will provide the music, and two cast members from Channel 7’s Home and Away will make an appearance.

The 20th Anniversary Blue Light discos will be held at Morphettville Racecourse Function Centre on July 27. The event starts at 7:30pm and tickets are available from BASS and the usual Blue Light outlets. Tickets cost $10 for under-18s and $25 for adults.

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