Police back multi-agency hubs to reduce offending
Jul 22, 2011
from the article by Neil Puffett in Children and Young People Now:
The youth justice system is set to benefit from increased multi-agency working between police, education, social care and health teams across London that will provide massive public sector savings, the UK's lead police officer for children has claimed.
In an exclusive interview with CYP Now, Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Ian McPherson, who is lead on children and young people at the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said the "multi-agency safeguarding hub" concept, pioneered in Devon, will divert children away from the criminal justice system and could lead to big savings.
An injection of £1m will support six local authority pilot projects in London to improve early intervention from police and other agencies. The hubs involve professionals from police, education, social care and health, sharing information on children referred to the service. The Devon project has led to less form filling and greater focus on those at risk.
....Last month, the government outlined its plans for sentencing reform, which will include the extended use of restorative justice.
McPherson said the police have a major role to play in restorative justice, which could range from a more formal use of the principle, involving meetings between offenders and victims, through to police officers using it on their beat. For example, they would ask young people to rub away chalk they have used to graffiti.
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