Justice Awards 2007
Record Number of Wiltshire Criminal Justice Staff Receive Recognition in National Awards
A total of 18 nominations were received nationally for outstanding work that has taken place within Wiltshire’s criminal justice system over the past year.
Locally, the objective of the Awards is to recognise the work of staff working within, and in partnership with, the Criminal Justice system in Wiltshire and Swindon. It aims to inform the public of the positive initiatives and the many stories of dedication and commitment; and to improve the system as a whole by sharing information and ideas on what works best.
This year's award categories will recognise outstanding work carried out with victims, witnesses and offenders, as well as identifying excellent work carried out in areas including diversity and community engagement.
Nominations have been received for staff or volunteers from every criminal justice agency that makes up Wiltshire’s criminal justice system, as well as for partner agencies such as Wiltshire’s Community Safety and Drugs Team, Wiltshire County Council and local District Councils.
These awards aim to highlight the outstanding work that has taken place across Wiltshire over the past year, and recognise the dedicated individuals and teams who have gone the extra mile in delivering justice in Wiltshire.
Diana Fulbrook, Chair of the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board was delighted with the number of nominations received in Wiltshire and paid tribute to all staff for their continued dedication in servicing the communities of Wiltshire.
“The Wiltshire Justice Awards provide us with an opportunity to publicly recognise individuals and teams who are passionate in ensuring they deliver a service to the community which makes a real difference to people’s lives.”
Wiltshire and Swindon Award Winners:
The Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board award for:
Outstanding Contribution to Working with Offenders
Has been awarded to:
(i) the Drug Interventions and Prolific and Priority Offender Manager and Coordinators for Swindon and Wiltshire
- Jon Perry
- Lynne Hill
- Sue D’Amico
(ii) Keith Davies, Prison Officer, Her Majesty’s Prison Service Erlestoke
(iii) Karen Glassock, Probation Officer, National Probation Service, Wiltshire Area
(iv) Andy Gault, Youth Offending Officer, Wiltshire Youth Offending Team
and
(v) Nicky Skinner, Business Manager, Wiltshire Youth Offending Service
(i) The role of the Drug Interventions and Prolific and other Priority Offender coordinators is to oversee the delivery of services within Wiltshire and Swindon. This in turn has had a huge impact in offenders easily accessing drug treatment within Wiltshire and Swindon. The coordinators have worked closely with probation and police and played an integral role with other drug treatment providers to provide the best possible continuity of care. A year ago there was only one individual on the Drug Interventions Programme in Wiltshire, currently there are 123. Since the Coordinators in Swindon and Wiltshire have become single points of contacts, referrals from prison have gone up 200% due to effective networking. The Coordinators have worked exceptionally hard to ensure that the prolific offenders are identified and outcomes are positive-. Over 50% of the offenders on the Prolific and other Priority Offender programme have significantly reduced their offending rate since their introduction to the scheme.
(ii) In 2006, Keith introduced an alternative catalogue that offered items from clothing to DVD’s for sale to inmates at competitive prices and shorter delivery times. In the past 12 months, other work areas have emerged contributing to a thriving business within the Prison. Erlestoke Social Enterprise is now registered as a Community Interest Company. This is all down to Keith’s entrepreneurial skills and personal drive to encourage the resettlement of offenders. Working in partnership with the Princes Trust, Community First and Strode College, he has realised some of his vision to encourage a work ethic and develop self-confidence so that ex-offenders will be able to sustain real employment upon release. The Butler Trust Award for Excellence has acknowledged his work achieved against all odds and sometimes difficult circumstances
(iii) Karen Glassock has been consistently performing as an excellent probation officer during her time with the probation service. Karen is well respected by staff in WPA and HMP Erlestoke and offenders, providing clear boundaries to offenders and enabling them to understand the impact of their behaviour upon others and the risk they present in given circumstances in order that they can play an active part in being responsible for managing their own risk. She is a constant source of wisdom and guidance for staff.
(iv) Andy is at his best when working with complex and risky cases, his knowledge and engagement with MAPPA process is fulsome. Andy's enthusiasm for his work is tremendous and he is respected by colleagues both inside and outside of the YOS. Andy's skill in building retaining relationships with partnership and prison staff.
(v) Nicky provides the crucial business support to allow front line staff to deliver positive outcomes. Without her hard work and tremendous work in setting up/maintaining vital functions, Wiltshire YOS would not function as well as it does. Her work enables others around her to make the best use of resources on the frontline. She is trustworthy, reliable, adaptable, supportive of and respected by all inside and outside of the YOS.
The Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board award for:
Outstanding Contribution in Caring for Victims
has been awarded to:
(i) Julie James-Kempshall, Sexual Assault Referral Centre Manager, Swindon
(ii) Hayley Mortimer, Wiltshire Domestic Violence Reduction Coordinator (to be collected by Pippa McVeigh on behalf of Hayley)
And
(iii) Tom Weedon, Senior Practitioner, National Probation Service Wiltshire Area
(i) Julie has produced and implemented organisational protocols that coordinate a timely and robust management of victim examination, forensic retrieval, safe storage and forensic submissions. She maintains victim contact and ensures support where appropriate in cases dealt with within the Criminal Justice System and to those victims who choose not to engage with the Police. Julie has worked tirelessly to promote and raise awareness of the SARC throughout the local communities. The result of this is that the SARC is seeing a rapid increase in victims reporting rape and sexual assault. Current trends will note a 50% increase on the referrals from last year. Julie has captured best practice by visiting similar more established centres and has become well known nationally for her work at the New Swindon Sanctuary. Her success has received praise at national conference, the Home Office and the Forensic Science Service..
(ii) Hayley developed and implemented 24 hour snapshot of domestic violence, the first of its kind within Wiltshire. The Snapshot has given Wiltshire a solid base for the development of strategies to enable the allocation of resources where they are most needed, and to ensure people experiencing domestic violence abuse have resources available to them. Hayley has worked with people who support victims of domestic violence, coordinating the provision of ‘Pamper Packs’ for women entering refuges, through donations from The Body Shop and local pharmacies. She has organised an ongoing sponsorship deal with Waitrose Salisbury to provide flowers and vouchers for victims as well as scope for future support through Christmas hampers and raffle prizes.. Hayley’s major project has been to ensure MARACS is rolled out in Wiltshire, through extensive research into good practice, ensuring commitment from a range of partner agencies and identifying the funding. Hayley continues to work to secure funding to Wiltshire to ensure that the work carried out in with domestic violence is as sustainable and efficient as possible.
(iii) Tom Weedon is the Senior practitioner who oversees the Wiltshire victim liaison unit. Tom is an experienced probation service employee who maintains commitment and enthusiasm for the work of the Service. His priority is contacting victims in shortest possible timeframe to keep them informed of case outcomes. Due to his commitment, the Victim Liaison Unit is consistently meeting their targets with victim communication. Tom has a very productive relationship with local housing authorities –police, social services, health service and ensures that risk management strategies are effective to protect known victims and prevent further victimisation
The Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board award for:
Outstanding Contribution to Engaging Local Communities
has been awarded to:
(i) The Overdose Notes Implementation Team which is comprised of
Chief Inspector Simon Dicks- Wiltshire Police
Mal Munday- National Probation Service, Wiltshire Area
Hilary Marsh- Community Safety Manager, Kennet District Council
Lynne Gaskin- Head of Crime Reduction and Community Protection
Diana Fulbrook- Chair, Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board
Yvonne Maunder- Business Support Manager, Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board
(ii) Paul Long, Operations Support Manager, Her Majesty’s Courts Service, Salisbury
(iii) Paul Phelps Wiltshire Police
(i)The Overdose Notes highlights the need to improve co-ordination between different services – prisons, probation, and police – to provide effective support for offenders and their rehabilitation programmes. The film was produced for this purpose and has received an outstanding reaction from everyone who has watched it. The Overdose Notes working group have spent many hours planning the implementation of the film into community groups, strategic planning groups and schools throughout Wiltshire and have designed a facilitator’s pack which will be able to be adapted for the different audiences. People felt they had to act on these issues, and the Board has had testimonials from individuals who felt they had never seen a film with such impact. The film was produced by Glennie Macintosh and Omni productions and plans are underway to implement further dramas such as this one for other Board priority areas including a DVD focussing on the issue of Domestic Violence. The film won two gold awards for Best Drama and Best Script in the International Visual Communications Association Awards in London this year.
(ii) Paul has pro-actively and independently done an incredible amount of work to both engage with the community on CJS issues and take action on feedback received which contributes to improving confidence in the CJS. With his customer service responsibility Paul has undertaken face to face surveys at courthouses in Wiltshire and produced action plans to improve the service offered to the public
(iii) A particularly difficult resident to deal with on the area was accountable for 33% of the work by the Neighbourhood Policing Team, making up to 200 calls monthly. Pc Phelps engaged with partnership working and through that close working relationship with the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and each incident reported was dealt with individually, resulting, in the lady being prosecuted for assault in April. Due to this, the amount of calls received from this lady decreased from approx 200 a month to 14 calls from February till May 2007 Resources can now be used more effectively and local residents have been reassured by the positive Police action, Without Pc Phelps dedication and professionalism, this would not have been possible
The Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board award for:
Outstanding Contribution to Tackling Youth Crime
Has been awarded to:
(i) Families in Focus Team, Wiltshire Youth Offending Service, which is comprised of
- Vanessa Brown, Project Coordinator
- Tom Blowers
- Mags Todd
- Ewa Gabryel
- Rachel Pearce
(ii) Ian Longshaw, Wiltshire Youth Offending Service
(iii) Paul Hewer, Wiltshire Youth Offending Team
(iv) Chrissy Goodall, Secretary to Head of Wiltshire Youth Offending Service
(i) The Families in Focus team aims to prevent those aged 8 to 13 years at risk of committing crime from entering the criminal justice system by providing a variety of interventions from working one to one with individuals to focused group work. Due to their growing success, partner agencies provide a consistent flow of voluntary referrals because they know the team are able to quickly gain the trust and respect of the children and their families and therefore work toward a successful outcome for all. This project consistently provides examples of good practice, especially when dealing with some of the most challenging children and families, and with renewed funding, will provide an alternative path for those children who are very likely to be the criminals of the future.
(ii) Ian is the most experienced member of the Melksham YOS team and as a result has a built up a wealth of experience and skills in engaging and working with young people who offend. His real strength is passing is knowledge and skills onto others. This is evidenced by him holding the Practice Teaching Award that qualifies him to assess social work students on placement with Melksham YOS. He has just seen his 13th student pass her placement which is a 100% success rate and a real testament of Ian's coaching skills over a sustained period.
(iii) ‘Paul works for the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) run jointly by Swindon and Wiltshire YOT, which targets young people either on the brink of custody or on licence on release, with a 25 hour a week programme of intervention and electronic monitoring. ISSP works with the ‘critical few’ those young people who are at greatest risk of offending and usually the most difficult to engage effectively.
Paul has played a significant role in ensuring that ISSP programme operating effectively throughout this time and deserves recognition for his work over the last year.’
(iv) Chrissy’s work within the Youth Offending team always goes beyond the call of duty. She provides tremendous support to the Head of Wiltshire’s Youth Offending Service and her humour and quick wit is a great morale booster to all staff members.
The Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board award for:
Long service award for continued commitment and dedicationHas been awarded to:
(i) Colin Meeke, Crown Advocate, Wiltshire Crown Prosecution Service, Chippenham
(ii) Griff Daniels, Community Involvement Manager, Wiltshire Youth Offending Service
(i) Colin is an excellent full time Crown Advocate and deals with a full range of casework as well as being the lead prosecutor for pre charge advice with Wiltshire police, in the most serious of cases. Colin has built excellent relationships with CJS partners due to his experience and expertise in casework and has contributed immensely to CPS and CJS throughout his 23 years service. Colin has tirelessly demonstrated his commitment to the service by engaging with staff from across the grades and whose judgement and advice is well respected by all. Colin’s excellent ability to make sound judgments in a full range of case work has resulted in successful prosecutions locally and therefore had a significant impact to OBTJ.
(ii) In 1985 Griff was appointed as ‘the’ youth justice officer for Wiltshire! As the service began to grow in the 1990’s Griff was appointed as the youth justice manager for NW Wiltshire and following the creation of Wiltshire YOS Griff was the force behind Wiltshire being selected as a pilot for Referral Orders. Griff seized this opportunity to embed restorative justice principles not only with YOS staff, but also with other staff working with ‘Looked after Children’ as well as a large number of volunteers from the local community. Griff is now introducing RJ to 6 local secondary schools and is training teachers etc in order to reduce bullying and school exclusions. Griff has ensured that via RJ the victim’s voice is well and truly heard in Wiltshire and that the local community has a powerful input into the YOS’s work. Since 2000 Griff has trained hundreds of volunteers and Wiltshire YOS currently has in excess or 150 active volunteers, which is a disproportionately high number for a YOT the size of Wiltshire. Griff has been responsible for training child care staff in Wiltshire County Council residential homes and remand foster carers in restorative justice principles. In 2001 Griff also drew up and implemented with Wiltshire Constabulary a protocol concerning the arrest and prosecution of Looked After Children within which RJ principles were enshrined.