PPOs

(Priority & Other Persistent Offenders)

Background

The Government introduced the PPO scheme across England and Wales in September 2004 as a single coherent initiative with three complementary strands designed to reduce crime by targeting those who commit a large number of offences or otherwise cause most harm in their communities.

The strategy is intended to tackle prolific offending and its root causes by means of a three-pronged approach through the complementary strands of:

Catch and Convict: This strand is delivered by the Police to actively tackle and proactively target those who are already prolific and persistent offenders.

Resettle & Rehabilitate: Is delivered through the Probation Service who will work with those already caught and convicted in an effort to reduce their offending rate by offering them a range of supportive interventions.

Prevent and Deter: Is delivered through the Youth Offending Team and is designed to stop young people entering the existing pool of prolific offenders.

The key difference between PPO scheme and previous strategies to tackle persistent offending is that responsibility for the implementation and operation of the scheme is with the Chair of the Community Safety Partnership. In accordance with the responsibility for the delivery of the scheme the Home Office guidance provided a flexible framework within which each CDRP could identify their Group of PPOs whilst being mindful to take account of PSA1, comparator crimes and local priorities

Vale Royal PPO scheme

The Vale Royal scheme was implemented in early September 2004 following the release of the guidance from the Home Office. In the early phases the scheme functioned around the delivery of catch and convict and resettle and rehabilitate through the existing Multi Agency Problem Solving Group.

However in October 2005 a separate structure for the delivery of catch and convict and resettle and rehabilitate was implemented to ensure the continuous development of the scheme and meet the increased information and performance demands placed on the scheme.

The structure of the Vale Royal PPO Group is as follows:

PPO Operational Group: This Group meets on a fortnightly basis to discuss progress with individuals in terms of those proactive interventions through the Police and Probation in delivering their obligations under catch and convict and resettle and rehabilitate.

The core attendees of this Group are dedicated staff from the Probation Service, Cheshire Police and the Youth Offending Team.

PPO Risk Management Group: This Group meet on a four weekly cycle and complements the operational group meeting in considering in greater depth those risk factors associated with reoffending and attempts to deliver interventions to reduce such risks.

The core group of attendees from Police, Probation and Youth Offending Team are complemented with members from Vale Royal Borough Councils Housing Options service and the Drug Intervention Programme. There is further scope to expand the representation at this Group to include Cheshire Primary Care Trust.

PPO Strategic Group: This Group meet quarterly with managers from Police, Probation, Youth Offending Team, Drug Intervention Programme and Vale Royal Borough Councils Housing Options Team.

The purpose of this Group is to monitor nominations and exits from the scheme, monitor performance and ensure the continuous development and enhancement of interventions for Persistent Priority Offenders in Vale Royal.

This group is also responsible for monitoring progress and compliance with the GONW Performance monitoring mechanism.

A Project Manager for the Vale Royal PPO scheme has been identified who reports progress to the Vale Royal Community Safety Partnership Project Managers Group. The feedback provided to this meeting is in turn reported to the Community Safety Partnership Leadership Group.

It should be noted that in Vale Royal the Prevent and Deter strand of the PPO scheme which is owned by the Youth Offending Team is delivered through the MAPS Group and the Young Peoples meeting. This has enabled the smooth transition to absorbing this additional workload. Where those young people have become persistent and prolific offenders the communication between Youth Offending Team, Probation and Police has proved effective in transferring individuals between the three complementary strands.

Key Achievements of Vale Royal PPO scheme

Local offending rates performance tool established – latest version shows that 17 of the 18 PPOs involved in the scheme are currently reducing their offending behaviours.
A total of 3 offenders being managed within the PPO scheme with more than 100 offences committed, have either substantially reduced or ceased offending since the programme commenced
Established structure and dedicated staff identified to deliver the scheme locally
Scheme fully integrated into the Police Tasking and Coordination process
Key links with support providers and other agencies such as VRBC Housing Options and the Drug Intervention Programme.