Lifestyle change in Lanarkshire

Strathclyde Police have linked with Careers Scotland to provide a way out of crime. We took a closer look at the scheme that is not an alternative to a custodial sentence but an alternative way of life for those that really want it.

The initiative began when Area Inspector for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Bob Hope was invited to attend a seminar on what was being offered by Careers Scotland to disaffected young people: an initiative called Positive Futures that provided resources for one-to-one commitment – assisting young people into gainful employment.

The seminar heard the main problem was that the resources were not being utilised as Careers Scotland was unable to gain access to the young people being targeted; 16 to 19 year olds.

Inspector Hope examined custody records and found that 580 of this age group had been through the custody suite in Cumbernauld over the previous year. Closer examination saw that 260 were unemployed. The number of crimes attributable to that group was 2,172 offences.

The Inspector said this led him to believe that there was the potential for the police to make referrals of some of the individuals in custody to Careers Scotland: “We hoped that the initiative may help some of these people into employment and away from a life of crime before it has started.”

The Cumbernauld area has a particular problem with alcohol and the scheme was seen as a good fit into the diversionary strategy, to take young people away from alcohol and crime.

Agreement was reached internally to establish protocols around a referral process. As it was the first relationship for the police in Scotland with the agency, there wasn’t a template for protocols for information sharing, making referrals and administration.

Insp Hope looked at other referral schemes and found the main issue with those appeared to be complaints that referrals were being made and not followed up quickly enough.

He said: “I made sure that I had a clause inserted to say there would be a maximum of five working days between the police making a referral and someone from Careers Scotland making contact with the individual. This ensured that credibility in the police and the scheme wasn’t compromised and it received the best possible start.

“Once legal issues had been overcome and the organisations were able to share information and manage the process within the existing resources, officers had to decide who would be the main salespeople for the scheme.

“The next issue was then, who would offer the opportunity to prisoners, who would be selling it to them?” said Insp Hope. “In addition, it was difficult to know how many people could be managed by Careers Scotland as it was an add-on to the current workload without any further resources to manage these referrals. There was some apprehension in Careers Scotland over the volume.”

Concern over schemes in Scotland that offer an alternative to custodial sentence where offenders agree to a punishment in exchange for custodial sentences, led to a decision to ensure that the scheme was only offered to those who wanted to be referred without any impact on the prosecution. This was expected to be a considerable filter, which it turned out to be.

“Offering the service only to those who wanted an alternative lifestyle is probably the main success factor,” added Insp Hope.

The sales process was placed in the custody environment and custody sergeants were introduced to Careers Scotland to achieve a full understanding of what was on offer to those being referred. Custody staff were then fully briefed.

Custody officers developed a skill in introducing the programme; when interviewing prisoners in the target age group and explaining the initiative, they knew when to discuss it, who to discuss it with and have been able to get them to sign-up and commit to a referral.

The scheme was launched in June 2005 in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth district. Since then, seventeen young men have been referred to Caree