KENT NEWS: The county’s 1,000 ‘most wanted’ offenders are being targeted by an initiative to slash crime figures.
Senior crime chiefs are in despair because those figures are being skewed by a relatively small group of persistent offenders.
Now the authorities have set up six Integrated Offender Management units (IOM), covering the county.
Staff at the units will manage the most problematic offenders responsible for crimes like burglaries and anti-social behaviour.
The units will be run by Kent Police, Kent Probation, Kent Youth Offending Service and Medway Youth Offending Team.
Offenders who continually commit crime will be dealt with by the police, while those who stay on the straight and narrow will get support such as help in finding education, employment or training and help with drug or alcohol problems.
The idea is to break the constant circle of crime, punishment, crime.
IOM project manager Claire Gatward said: “We are truly working in partnership. We are pooling our resources and using them to maximum effect.
“Our aim is to reduce reoffending and we will work with offenders in a very targeted way to help them turn their lives around.
“However, they are all warned in no uncertain terms that if they do re-offend we will bring them to justice.”
The group says prison is not always the right answer, especially for less serious offenders, and tough community sentence can be more effective in rehabilitating offenders by turning them away from crime.
Statistics show the rate of reoffending after community sentences falling from 38.1 per cent to 36.1 per cent between 2000 and 2007.
Last week KCC chief executive Peter Gilroy told KOS Media that high numbers of reoffending former prisoners were having an “adversely large impact” on the county.
He said many ex-cons were “dumped” in poorer areas of the county, where they went on to reoffend.
Angela Slaven, director of youth offending services and substance misuse at Kent County Council and a member of the Kent Criminal Justice Board, said: “This initiative reflects the seriousness with which youth crime is taken in the county and its success should contribute to the public feeling more confident in the youth justice system.”
And Deputy Chief Constable of Kent Adrian Leppard, who chairs the Kent Criminal Justice Board, added: “This is exactly the kind of multi-agency initiative the KCJB was set up to encourage. I am delighted that it is now up and running throughout Kent and Medway.”
Alan Dowie, director of offender management at Kent Probation said: “We need to recognise that crime cannot be solved by criminal justice agencies alone; real lasting solutions need to embrace capture and punishment for crimes that have already been committed as well as actions to ensure that offenders turn away from future crime.”
For more information visit www.cjsonline.gov.uk/kent.
POSTED: 20/03/2010 15:00:00
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