Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPOs)
It is estimated that, nationally, out of a million active offenders, 100,000 offenders have three or more convictions and are responsible for half of all recorded crime. The active offender population is not static, 20,000 individuals leave this pool every year and are replaced by another 20,000.
But thanks to The Reach Project, the County's Prolific and other Priority Offender (PPO) scheme, criminal justice agencies together with key partner organisations are reducing volume crime and tackling substance misuse across the County.
Four years after the Government launched the Prolific and other Priority Offender (PPO) Strategy to target the offenders who commit the most crime and cause the most harm to local communities, the scheme which helps persistent offenders turn their lives around is proving a success in Derbyshire.
Since its introduction many offenders have been required to work to a challenging and demanding programme of monitoring and supervision delivered by agencies represented on the Derbyshire Criminal Justice Board and have been helped to leave behind a path of offending and look towards a crime free future.
Case study
Alfreton section experienced a large increase in dwelling burglaries from late November 2007 until the beginning of February 2008. Intelligence eventually led to three suspects being involved so the division’s Volume Crime Unit (VCU) set up an operation in an attempt to catch these three offenders.
On 1 February 2008, two of the three suspects were arrested in possession of stolen property from two burglaries in Alfreton committed earlier the same day. Evidence was also gathered with regards to the third suspect’s involvement and he was arrested the following day. In total, six burglaries occurred on the morning of the 1 February. One of the defendants was charged with two of these and admitted to the other four which were taken into consideration (TIC). He was remanded in custody and subsequently brought from prison on a number of occasions by officers from the VCU on police divisions ‘A’ and ‘C’ and admitted 168 more crimes, the vast majority being dwelling burglaries.
The PPO was sentenced to five years in custody at Derby Crown Court on 1 May 2008. The other two defendants are also PPOs and are both class A drug users. One has been sentenced to 11 months for possession of criminal property and the other is still on remand awaiting trial for several burglaries. After the three were arrested at the beginning of February, dwelling burglaries committed in Alfreton virtually stopped.
The Reach Project is a multi-agency led initiative, owned by the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership's (CDRPs) with Derbyshire Criminal Justice Board having responsibility for ensuring compliance with the overall strategy.
The project brings together representatives from Derbyshire Constabulary, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majesty's Courts Service, Her Majesty's Prison Service, Derbyshire Probation Area, the County Youth Offending Service, the Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) and Drug Intervention Programme (DIP), housing agencies and Connexions.
As part of the strategy, the criminal justice agencies and other partners apply a 'Premium Service' when dealing with a PPO, to which there are three complementary strands: Prevent and Deter, Catch and Convict and Rehabilitate and Resettle.
All member agencies have a responsibility towards delivering the 'Premium Service' to ensure that PPOs in Derbyshire are identified as quickly as possible, are assigned a dedicated worker at each stage of the criminal justice process, are given priority access to appropriate offending behaviour programmes and are prioritised during court listings.
In addition, Derby Community Safety Partnership operate a similar scheme in Derby City.