The Police Association President says military academies for youth offenders are worth a crack.  

The Government plans to have an Oranga Tamariki-run pilot programme by the middle of this year.  

Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking that people who sponsored earlier models tell him they saw kids coming in with no self-esteem and leaving with their mana restored.  

He says the challenge is when they left, they went back to dysfunctional families and places with gang influence.  

Cahill says support at the end of the programmes is needed. 

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