Work continuing to cut adult re-offending rates in Teesside
A joint initiative has won an award
Work is continuing to cut adult re-offending rates in Teesside as Cleveland has one of the highest numbers in England and Wales.
Various departments inside Middlesbrough custody suite is dealing with those who have been arrested and taken in.
Victims and witnesses of crimes can identify suspects easier at the ID suite there.
Carly Devon is the manager and she said: "I would view a mugshot as your custody picture. ID parades use video. It's less intimidating for a witness or a victim. They only people present would be themselves, us as staff and potentially a solicitor acting on behalf of the suspect. It's a 10-15 minute process from viewing. For them it's not as intimidating because you've not got a suspect on the other side of a glass screen.
"My standard opening to anybody who's taking part in an ID parade is that it's not like they show you on the TV. It's so outdated about 20 years now we've been using video ID procedures.
"What would essentially happen is we've got a suspect that's known to us, they'd come in here to have their image captured. It's a short video clip of somebody looking left, right and straight ahead. We then have a national database of images where we would search for persons that resemble that suspect in general appearance, age and position in life, so we're looking for people that are similiar looking but aren't a twin.
"The whole idea being is that those nine people would blend amongst each other and not stand out for any particular reason, so then that's put together as a series of individual videos, each one is numbered and then they're shown to a witness at a later date. The witness would then view it if they recognise the suspect as the person responsible for committing the offence."
Cleveland Divert
A joint initiative between Cleveland Police, Probation Service North East and the Office of the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner has won a prestigious national award.
Cleveland Divert was set up in 2019 to provide out of court resolutions for adults.
It was named winner in the Learning and Development Programme of the Year category at the Skills for Justice – Inspire Justice Awards.
An expert panel of judges was impressed by the project’s impact on cutting re-offending rates.
Cleveland has one of the highest adult re-offending rates in England & Wales at 32.1% - 7.2 percentage points higher than the national average according to the Ministry of Justice. Rates for successful Divert participants are just four per cent.
Between April and September 2023, 73.1% (177) of the 242 referrals to Divert successfully completed the programme.
Kevin Parry, Project Implementation Manager at the Probation Service North East Region, accepted the award on behalf of the Divert team.
He said “I’m absolutely delighted. I think I speak for the whole team by saying that we’re in a little bit of a shock that a small team from the little geographic area of Cleveland has been successful in such prestigious national awards.
“There are three organisations involved with the scheme: the Police and Crime Commissioners Office, Cleveland Police and the Probation Service NE region. They will all be delighted about this.
“The success that we've enjoyed today will be shared with those partners within the Northeast region over the coming weeks and months.”
Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey said: “I’m so proud of Cleveland Divert and the good work, which it does in our communities.
“The programme shows that prison isn’t always the answer. Well-run, targeted rehabilitation schemes in the community can often be more effective in stopping re-offending and protecting the public than locking people up in jail.”
Chief Inspector Jon Tapper from Cleveland Police’s Offender Management Team said: “I am very proud of the work being done in Cleveland to divert people away from the criminal justice system and having this work recognised nationally is a fantastic achievement.
“We’re committed to tackling criminals and arresting offenders but it’s crucial we look at longer-term solutions to reduce crime. By addressing offenders’ behaviours, we can divert them away from crime and help prevent re-offending.”
The day after the win, Divert went on to be awarded a Certificate of Excellence at the Ruth Cranfield Awards. That was in recognition of its work rehabilitating offenders.
The Inspire Justice Awards is the UK’s only awards programme dedicated to recognising the achievements of the entire justice sector.
Organised by Skills for Justice, the Inspire Justice Awards were supported by BT, PeoplePlus, UNISON, Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, HM Courts & Tribunals Service and SFJ Awards.