Tackling Prolific Offenders

At the end of 2004 the government introduced their Prolific and Other Priority Offender Strategy (PPO) designed to tackle that small group of offenders in each local area who, by their lifestyle and persistent offending behaviour, cause a disproportionate and harmful impact on the community.

The strategy required all Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP) to identify this group of PPOs in their own area, to target and engage directly each individual, to implement appropriate interventions within a multi-agency environment and to pool resources and expertise to deliver the underlying outcomes - a reduction in crime and disorder and a reduction in the rates of re-offending, together with long-term rehabilitation for those identified.

The Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) has overall responsibility for ensuring that each CDRP in its area has a PPO Scheme and that it is working effectively.

Basingstoke & Deane Community Safety Forum adopted this strategy and the borough council employed a Community Safety Officer (Prolific Offenders) to coordinate procedures and liaise with all statutory and other relevant partners in their efforts to comply with the government's approach.

There is a PPO Strategic Group (a sub-group of the Community Safety Forum) with representatives from those statutory and other agencies who can best help and who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the strategy is fully complied with. This group meets quarterly to discuss issues and performance in relation to the PPO Strategy.

Currently (2006) there are 22 individuals identified in the Basingstoke and Deane area who are being managed under the local PPO Scheme.

In April 2006 Hampshire Constabulary implemented significant organisational changes across the Force area which resulted in the creation of a number of larger Operational Command Units (OCU). From that date Basingstoke and Deane CDRP was then linked into an OCU which also includes the CDRPs for Hart, Rushmoor and East Hampshire areas.

In an effort to make for greater economy of scale and resources and to improve effective delivery of the PPO strategy discussions were also under-taken within each of these four CDRPs to merge their separate schemes into a single one for the OCU with a co-located, multi-agency team of officers carrying out the day-to-day case management work.

The formal merging of schemes finally took place on the 8th January 2007. The multi-agency team, currently consisting of a manager, three police officers, two probation service officers and a client support officer is known as the RHINO Team (Recidivist Holistic Interventions North-east OCU). This team is now in place and is permanently located within Basingstoke Police Station.

As at April 2007 the total number of identified prolific offenders across the North and East Hampshire area being targeted and case-managed by this team now stands at 60.

As a result of this merger, there is now a Joint PPO Strategic Group (JPSG), with represenation from all statutory partners and each of the four CDRPs, which meets quarterly and is responsible for the strategic direction and delivery of the PPO Programme across the North and East Hampshire Operational Command Unit.

For further information about the PPO Strategy, the merged schemes and the RHINO Team please contact Steve Allum, Area Team Manager on 01256 845738 or via email steve.allum@basingstoke.gov.uk