Durham Police commended for work with children's homes

Durham Police are one of the leading examples when it comes to policing children's homes.

That's according to a new report that says in general, forces are being called out too often, and it's draining resources.

Durham Police have assigned an officer to each care home in a bid to help staff develop problem-solving plans.

It's part of an effort to keep children out of the criminal justice system which, the police say, helps prevent crime.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:

"There is still much work to do, and our research has found that children in residential care are being criminalised unnecessarily. Police, local authorities and children’s homes must work together to rise to this challenge.

“The best scenario for a child living in a children’s home is not to have any contact with the police at all, just like any child living at a parental home. Ensuring that there is the least possible contact between police and children living in residential care would free up police time to deal with more important matters and prevent children having their life chances blighted by an unnecessary criminal record.”

National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Children and Young People, Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said:

"Police callouts to children’s homes have been a concern for some years across the UK. The police are always there in cases of emergencies, but too often we are called for incidents which are not appropriate for the police to be involved with. All forces are looking at how they can work more closely with residential care homes and improving procedures to ensure that the police are not involved unnecessarily."