Partnerships are required to work with Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs) and other partner agencies including the Police, Criminal Justice Service, Youth Offending Teams, Probation Service and Prison Service to deliver the scheme.
The PPO strategy focuses on individuals who commit the most crime and cause the most harm to their communities. There are approximately 1 million active offenders in the United Kingdom, and of these, 100,000 (10%) commit at least 50% of all serious crime. Within this 100,000 (10%) there are 5,000 offenders (0.5%) who are responsible for a disproportionately high amount of crime. The PPO strategy is aimed at tackling this super prolific group.
In order for CDRPs to establish a successful PPO scheme in their area they are required to develop a multi agency forum, which will facilitate the sharing, and exchange of specific information in line with the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (section 115). Based on shared intelligence, each PPO scheme will identify between 15-20 PPOs. In areas where crime is high the PPO scheme will be expected to identify between 60-100 PPOs.
The PPO strategy also places a responsibility on CDRPs to work in conjunction with Police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and courts to develop a Premium Service. This service, will ensure PPOs, are consistently prioritised and fast tracked through the Criminal Justice System. CDRPs will also broker services from other partner agencies, such as Housing, Health, Education, Social Services, Job Centre Plus and Criminal Invention Programme Teams to ensure this Premium Service offers an intensive, personalised and responsive approach to each PPO. By offering this service, PPOs will stop re-offending and be fully integrated into society.
GOSW is responsible for supporting and advising Crime partnerships in the South West region on the appropriate number and distribution of Prolific and Priority Offender (PPO) schemes. We also monitor the successful implementation and development of schemes and the refinement of scheme performance including the identification and sharing best practice.
