The very first Staffordshire-wide strategy which creates a joint approach to reduce offending and make communities safer has been established.
Reducing Re-Offending is one of four key priorities under Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis’ Safer, Fairer United Communities strategy.
A new Strategic Framework for Reducing Offending to guide and inform the activity of all agencies in delivering the programme has now been developed. The framework contains guidance for the future planning and commissioning of services centred around Prevention, Diversion, Offender Management and Rehabilitation and Resettlement. An Action Plan has also been produced to track progress.
Matthew Ellis, Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire, has set out plans for a fully integrated system where criminal justice and community safety services provided by different agencies are aligned towards common goals.
Nationally, 50 per cent of all crime is committed by “career” offenders who, typically, by the age of 40, will have cost the public £500,000 each. In Staffordshire alone, the costs of offending is £250 million a year.
Mr Ellis said: “Historically, offenders who serve less than 12 months have left prison without any support or management. There is little, if any, support, meaning they are more likely to offend again. This is about being tough on crime and criminals but finding and applying practical, value for money methods to reduce re-offending, helping to make communities safer.
“It’s about using a range of services for people who come out of prison, to make it less likely they will re-offend and harm communities across Staffordshire, including looking at areas such as those who go into prison illiterate are likely to come out of it illiterate.
“It’s about reducing demand on the criminal justice system in the future. The strategy will galvanise efforts across agencies. The joint approach is geared towards tackling root causes of crime and to break the cycle of crime in families with a history of offending, so that over time, there will be less crime, safer communities and fewer offenders.”
The multi-agency Offender Management Board, developed for Staffordshire, brings together a broad range of partners including representatives from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Staffordshire Police, the voluntary sector, Her Majesty’s Prison Service, Her Majesty’s Courts Service, Youth Offending Services, local authorities, Probation, Community Rehabilitation Company, Chamber of Commerce, Keele University and Public Health Teams.
The board will ultimately aim to jointly commission services and align budgets to prevent and reduce offending. The PCC has allocated £500,000 to commission offender-related services across Staffordshire this will be complemented by further funding and resources from partner agencies.
The board’s purpose is to ensure that offender programmes are delivered in a co-ordinated way in appropriate communities across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
