MPS youth offending initiatives and working with young people

Report: 5
Date: 26 June 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report presents a holistic view on the Initiatives the MPS is actively exploring to work with young people to prevent offending behaviour and to divert young offenders from crime.

A. Recommendation

For members of the Professional Standards and Performance Monitoring Committee and the Consultation, Diversity and Outreach Committee to note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

1. Each of the MPS's 32 Borough Operational Command Units is expected to carry out MPS policy in reducing offending behaviour in young people and diverting them from crime. Each enjoys a certain autonomy in working with their borough's statutory partners and voluntary organisations in delivering a service in a style that benefits the community to which it serves. As a result, many good local practices have evolved. The MPS recognises the importance of promulgating good practices across London with a view to standardising such practice. Below is a list of MPS Initiatives. The appendices are consultation documents but provide a guide as to what the MPS is aiming to achieve this year

Current examples of MPS borough initiatives tackling offending behaviour in young people

Police initiatives - truancy sweeps

2. Statistics show that truancy is a significant risk factor in offending behaviour. Regular initiatives conducted by borough police officers and their partners ensure truants are either returned to school or taken to a safe designated place.

Police in YOTs - a multi agency approach

3. The YOTs support young people by structured intervention programmes, restorative conferencing and reparation work; most of the work focuses on post offending behaviour, both pre and post charge. Case study at Camden YOT - a youth who began committing a series of thefts was arrested and admitted his offences. He had an interest in sport and being very tall for his age (6'5") he was persuaded to join a basketball team. Police supervision to ensure he attended paid off and this has changed his life. He no longer offends and he says he has found a purpose in life and increased his self esteem.

Police involvement in schools

4. Schools involvement officers who work closely with head teachers and their staff, and parents to divert children and young people from offending behaviour have been shown to reduce anti-social behaviour. Case study: Operation CRISP (Crime Reporting In Schools Project), conducted in one borough led to a decrease in crime and more offenders being arrested. The Operation was begun in response to a robbery problem, but this led to a range of offences being reported included a serious sexual assault.

Final warning scheme & restorative justice

5. Police recognise that it is in the youth's interest to have minor offences dealt with quickly. Reprimands & Warnings are a speedy response available to young offenders whose offence is not relatively a serious one and is admitted. The Restorative process requires that young offenders face the consequences of their offending behaviour, its affect on the victim and empathise with the victim. The outcome in managing the offender's behaviour depends on each individual. In some cases, redressing the balance is achieved by the young person carrying out reparation work within the community or for the victim (with their consent). In other cases, a young person might be required to attend an anger management course. If the young person experiences problems relating to other people because of lack of self esteem other courses are available, such as theatre drama groups. This holistic problem solving approach is designed to divert the young person away from offending behaviour, promote citizenship and to encourage the young person to feel closer to his or her community.

Case study:
earlier this year £600,000.00 was made available to London's 32 boroughs to divert young people away from crime. It was aimed at projects that adopted a multi-agency approach focusing on the reduction of street crime. More than two thirds of the boroughs so far have developed business plans and applied for some of this cash to reduce street crime. The plans have been innovative and disparate in their approach. One borough has taken a group of youths to Coldingly HMP to hear from convicts on why crime does not pay. Another borough has rented premises and paid for staff to train young people to use IT, and boost their confidence by operating theatre and drama groups. Other boroughs rent halls and pay trained staff to supervise youth clubs and sports activities. Some of these activities are happening now, but many of these will begin in the summer at the start of the summer holidays.

Restorative justice - joint MPS/Home Office pilot project

6. In 2000, the Home Office invited bids for projects aimed at reducing crime with emphasise on using restorative justice methods. Inspector Dowling of the MPS Restorative Justice & Youth Issues desk worked closely with Professor Lawrence Sherman and Dr Heather Strang to put the project together. The framework of the project programme was based on schemes operating in Australia and New Zealand. The crucial difference with the MPS project is that it uses a technique called, 'randomised controlled trial', (a method used to evaluate medicines) which is absolutely random in the way it selects offenders for the piloted programme. Two London boroughs have been selected - Haringey and Lewisham. The conditions are:

• the offences relate to street crime including robbery, violent assault and burglary;
• both youths and adults will participate in the pilot programme;
• the offender admits the offence and agrees to the process.

7. Once the person has been charged and if the person has been selected to participate in the programme steps will be taken to organise a restorative conference with the intention of bringing the victim and offender together, along with close friends and members of each person's family. The piloted process is intended to run concurrently with the court process. The pilot scheme's integrity is rooted in the random way it selects the proposed participants.

Persistent young offenders

8. Dealing with young criminals quickly is the key to them associating their offending activity with their punishment. The police have a clearly stated policy, which enables us to process these young offenders faster than any other class of offender.

Improving pan London youth provision

9. The MPS is taking a leading role in enhancing youth provision across London, with a view to reducing the number of young people who become involved in crime. This initiative arises from the finding that, of those youths arrested for street crime, about three quarters are first time entrants to the criminal justice system. With Ministerial support, a working group consisting of the MPS, Youth Justice Board, ALG and various Government Departments is assembling a menu of options for schemes that may be deployed by Local Authorities, via their Youth Offending Teams. The schemes within the menu have been selected on the basis of objective evaluation as to their effectiveness. In addition, the guidance will include details of which existing Government funding streams may be applied to each type of scheme. It is envisaged that by the autumn, work will commence in three or four of the most challenged boroughs. We hope to secure Home Office assistance with project support and evaluation in each of the selected boroughs. If successful in the selected boroughs, it is envisaged that the schemes will be rolled out across London to fill identified gaps in youth provision.

Current MPS initiatives to support young victims

10. The MPS at a borough level continues to co-ordinate its work with other agencies to achieve good practice in supporting young victims.

11. The number of police partnership initiatives in respect of children and young people continues to increase.

Children abused through prostitution

12. Some boroughs have a larger problem than others; multi-agency steering groups have been set up in some boroughs such as Islington and Tower Hamlets to develop protocols and working practices with the intention of promoting a co-ordinated response.

Children and young persons who sexually abuse other children

13. Approximately one third of reported sexual offences are perpetrated by children and young persons. Some adult serial offenders will have offended against up to 300 victims during their criminal career. The targeting of the younger client group offers a positive long term strategy for reducing the 'cycle of offending' of sex offenders. A multi-agency crime prevention initiative called the Walk Safe Project is aimed at identifying children who sexually abuse other children and assessing and managing the risk posed. This East London initiative was adopted in 1996 from Shropshire where it had been running since 1987.

Reported missing children and young persons

14. There is a broad interpretation of policy on boroughs in de-briefing the child or young person to ascertain the causes of their running away. The MPS is considering ways of interviewing more children upon their return by targeting children considered most vulnerable and deploying its resources to meet their needs. The MERLIN project proposes to allow for the inputting of all missing persons onto a computerised database via OTIS. It is envisaged the pilot will commence this year.

Child safe project

15. Designed to heighten the awareness of the dangers posed by the infiltration of sex offenders in organisations catering for sports and activities, which are designed to attract children and young people.

Crime reporting in schools

16. See above Operation CRISP

Child Protection Register (CPR)

17. This is a pro-active joint agency approach with the social services targeting households where children are known or likely to be at risk. Most CPTs have developed (and review) their own protocols to ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act. It enables information to be passed from social services to police to highlight that a child at an address to which the police are attending may be on the CPR. A Form 78 will be completed by the officer.

Drug/alcohol abuse misuse and young people and children at risk

18. Some boroughs have introduced multi-agency guidance to assist the numerous service providers from both the statutory and voluntary services. Such guidance seeks to raise awareness and provides a means to respond cohesively to perceived problems

Domestic violence & child protection

19. Research indicates that within 1:4 marriages there exists some form of domestic violence. MPS research indicates that 1:3 calls to police are related to domestic violence. Domestic violence can cause emotional abuse to children residing in such households. The MPS is presently considering how to create closer links between Child Protection Teams and Community Safety Units to ensure all information is widely available to the risk assessment process within the Department of Health 'Framework for Assessment'.

Protecting children with disabilities

20. The MPS is starting to address the widely shared perceptions that young people and children with disabilities are not always identified as suffering abuse or neglect, and are not sufficiently protected when such concerns are identified. Currently one borough - Islington has formulated policy guidance on such issues.

Internet

21. A medium that attracts a range of sex offenders. There are a number of good practices on how individuals, schools and organisations can prevent contact with predators on the internet. The MPS instructs all referrals relating to misuse of the Internet be forwarded to the Clubs and Vice office. This enables it to monitor the number of misuse referrals. It provides guidance and advice on how to prevent or minimise young people and children being victims of Internet misuse.

22. This list is not definitive and we continue to develop good practice. As the list develops, we shall incorporate good practice into our strategy and disseminate it across the Metropolitan Police Service. The police are by no means the only organisation with innovative ideas about reducing offending behaviour. The following case study illustrates this point.

23. Case study: one example of how a project can be initiated to promote citizenship is The East London Communities Organisation. This was developed in Waltham Forest in 1995, but the project philosophy has been running in the USA for about 70 years. TELCO is a broad based community organisation with the object of uniting isolated structured groups such churches, mosques and schools with the aim of sharing ideas and issues and to get people talking and dealing with them. The head teacher of Norlington School for boys, Neil Primrose, has introduced the idea into his school as a means of empowering the boys in the school to take responsibility for their actions. Last year the schoolboys experienced a spate of robberies and decided to do something about it. They enlisted the help of the local police, and organised a meeting of the local schoolboys, parents, their neighbours, business people, community groups, church groups, local councillors and MPs to discuss the problem. As a result of a working party from this meeting, recommendations were voiced to the local press and BBC. The robberies dropped dramatically. A week later Damilola Taylor was killed and there was an unprecedented interest in what the school was trying to achieve. The head teacher is now introducing this scheme into other secondary schools in the borough. The boys at the school have recently created a map of what they regard as safe streets and unsafe streets in their area. The focus is now on making the unsafe streets, safer, whilst the safer streets provide individuals with a more secure means travelling or a way of summoning help if there is a problem.

24. Appendix 1 is a draft guide to supporting borough strategies, the MPS/MPA policing and performance plans, and the Youth Justice Board strategy. It sets out the MPS role and responsibilities towards children and young people. It reflects the intention of the MPS to co-ordinate its own efforts to work closely with the MPA, statutory and voluntary bodies to make London a safer city.

25. Appendix 2 is a draft guide setting out the MPS youth strategy on Schools Involvement Programmes based on existing policy set out in the booklet, 'on the side of young people'.

C. Financial implications

None.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Paul Malyon. Additional information provided by Inspector Michael Morris at DCC4.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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