Who Manages Violent and Sexual Offenders?
Who's involved?
Who else is involved?
- Children Services
- Health services
- Housing services
- Job Centres
- Lancashire Criminal Justice Board
- NSPCC
- Victim Support
- Youth Offending Teams (YOTS)
What the Police Do
Head of Public Protection at Lancashire Constabulary, Detective Superintendent xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx :The Head of Public Protection for the police is a member of the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Strategic Management Board and is responsible for leading the constabulary’s operations to manage dangerous and sex offenders. They must make sure that force policy is in line with national best practice and guidance and co-ordinate policing operations across the county.
We have five public protection units (PPUs) of specially trained detectives, headed by a detective inspector. They work with other agencies to develop and deliver tailored plans to manage the risk posed by individual offenders living in the community.
"The constabulary is committed to making sure these units are well resourced and this year has added more officers to bolster the dangerous and sex offender manager teams in each PPU and to create a stronger central co-ordinating team. We've also created a dedicated post to manage the ViSOR (Violent and Sex Offender Register) system. This is a database used to store information on sexual and violent offenders being managed within the MAPP arrangements."
What the Probation Service Do
Louise Taylor, Assistant Chief Officer of the Lancashire Probation Service is the senior manager for public protection and is also a member of the MAPPA Strategic Management Board. Protecting the public from the risk of harm by offenders is a key priority for the Probation Service as Louise explains: "The Probation Service is responsible for assessing and managing high risk offenders – some of whom are managed through Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements and this year we've developed and implemented a set of MAPPA procedures that are in line with national guidance and provide consistency across the county".
"We lead on carrying out comprehensive risk assessments on offenders, providing reports to courts that help with sentencing decisions. We manage a range of offenders who are subject to community penalties or are in custody and provide hostel accommodation for offenders with complex risks and needs. We also carry out the swift enforcement of any breach of orders or prison licences."
"Our aim is to reduce offending and harm which includes the development and delivery of groups for violent, sexual, drug/alcohol misusing offenders, the identification and management of offenders who need to be drug tested and providing unpaid work placements."
What the Prison Service Do
The Prison Service is a key agency to the MAPPA process, putting in place arrangements to assess and manage the risks posed by offenders subject to MAPPA within individual prisons.
Ian Lockwood, Prison Area Manager, explains the role in more detail: "We ensure that the classification and allocation system for prisoners operates effectively to prevent those who represent a significant risk to the public from escaping. Key to this is making sure that prisoners are allocated to the appropriate prison only after careful risk assessments and providing timely, accurate and relevant information and recommendations for prisoners subject to parole reviews, which must be based on a realistic assessment of risk."
We also aim to ensure that the risk posed by discharged prisoners is reduced and, wherever possible, managed safely. We work with other organisations as part of the MAPPA to share and communicate information to help enable released prisoners to be managed safely in the community.
"The establishment of the National Offender Management Service, of which the Prison Service is part, has continued to gather pace during this year. In the next few months we will be working with the Probation Service and other partners across NOMS and in the community to introduce and embed the Offender Management model in prisons. This includes the use of the OASys Risk Assessment tool and the implementation of the National Offender Management Information System which enables real time case management of offenders in prison and in the community".
Who Else is Involved?
The three main agencies are supported by a range of other agencies who have a duty to cooperate. These include:
Children Services have a primary responsibility for safeguarding and protecting children. Their role is to assess children who might be in need of care and support and ensure that appropriate care and safety is provided. In Lancashire, the MAPPA team works with children's services provided by Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Blackpool Council. Follow the links for further details about children's services in Lancashire, in Blackburn or in Blackpool.
Health services, in the form of primary care trusts, work with the MAPPA teams in Lancashire. One of the roles of primary care trusts is to provide, plan and fund health services to offenders managed within MAPPA. This can include treatment of mentally disordered offenders or those with learning disabilities and covers offenders released into the community as well as those held in secure accommodation.
Housing services, including registered social landlords, have a part to play in MAPPA as research shows that reoffending is lower for those offenders that have stable accommodation. When the MAPPA team identifies that an offender can live unsupervised, the local authority plays a key role in helping to identify suitable housing options.
Job Centres are involved as employers have a duty to check criminal records for applications to certain posts. The MAPPA team will inform the employment services when an offender has been made the subject of a Disqualification Order (disqualified from working in a paid or voluntary capacity with children). They will also inform them when an offender has certain other restrictions placed on them. For example, when an offender is restricted from entering a specific location, commonly referred to as an "exclusion zone". Follow the link for further details about JobCentrePlus.
The Lancashire Criminal Justice Board was formed in 2003 to build public confidence, to reduce the fear of crime and to deliver the 'best value' service in relation to criminal justice. The Board is now well established and provides a forum for the Police, CPS(Crown Prosecution Service), Courts service, Probation service, Prison service, YOTs and Victim Support to develop and continuously improve policy and procedures to assist in the protection of the public. Follow the link for more details on the work of the Lancashire Criminal Justice Board.
The main aim of charity NSPCC is to protect and safeguard children. The Lancashire NSPCC works in partnership with Lancashire MAPPA to assist in assessing the risk posed to children by sexual offenders. Follow the link for further information on the work of the NSPCC.
Victim Support is a national charity that provides help and support to people affected by crime. It advises the Lancashire MAPPA team on the impact that violent and sexual offending has on victims. Follow the link for more information on the work of Victim Support.
Youth Offending Teams (YOTS) are multi agency teams made up of staff from the police, the probation service, children services, education and health. They work with young people from the age of 10-17. A very small minority of this age group commit violent or sexual offences and are managed under the multi-agency public protection arrangements. Follow the link for further details on the Lancashire Youth Offending Team.