Inside Justice Week 2008
.jpg)
Justice Chiefs Give Graffiti The Brush Off
The heads of the Kent Criminal Justice System joined offenders on probation in clearing graffiti from an underpass as part of national Inside Justice Week.
Area Director of HM Courts Service, Dave Weston, Chief Crown Prosecutor Roger Coe-Salazar, Chief Probation Officer, Sarah Billiald, Director of Youth Offending Services and Substance Misuse Manager Angela Slaven, Chief Inspector Ian Hall and Criminal Defence Service Manager Rob McCauley mucked in with a team of offenders on Community Payback today.
Wearing protective clothing and helmets, they took turns operating the Grimebuster – a combination of a chemical treatment and high pressure water jet – to remove graffiti from the Fostington Way underpass at Walderslade Woods, near Chatham.
Sarah Billiald said: “Today’s event helped to highlight the important unpaid work that offenders carry under probation supervision to pay back for their crimes.
“This was tough physical work that would not otherwise have been carried out for the benefit of local communities.
“My colleagues heading up the Kent Criminal Justice System learned at first hand today that being sentenced to Community Payback is no soft option.”
The agency chiefs met offenders and were given a brief talk about the Grimebuster and the work of Community Payback teams before trying their hand at graffiti removal.
Other Inside Justice Week events included:
· Local Crime: Community Sentence presentation by Kent Probation and the magistracy on Monday, 20 October, and Friday, 24 October, at Mid-Kent College, Chatham. Probation staff and magistrates team up to explain sentencing and encourage debate
· An interactive DVD-Rom presentation, entitled Judge For Yourself, by Kent Probation Communications Manager Neil Lampert to Ramsgate Rotary Club today (Tuesday, 21 October). The audience is taken behind-the-scenes of a real probation case before given the opportunity to sentence an offender
· Kent Probation Chief Officer Sarah Billiald gave a talk to students at the University of Kent at Canterbury
· Kent Criminal Justice Board is formally supporting the Islamic Exhibition being held October 13-25 in the Guildhall Museum, High Street, Rochester
· Criminal justice stalls at Meet The Ghurkas From The Frontline event, held as part of Black History Month in North Kent Police Station, Thames Way, Northfleet, on Friday, 24 October
