Offenders will be asked to clean up fly-tipping, vandalism and litter from across the North East as part of a new crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
The teams, made up of offenders serving community payback sentences and kitted out in hi-vis jackets, will be sent to communities across the region to carry out clean-ups. They will be called upon within 48 hours of cases being reported to the Probation Service.
The pilot scheme will see offenders carry out up to 20,000 hours of hard graft across four regions in just six months, ensuring they are paying for their crimes while giving back to the communities they have harmed. Each year, courts hand down more than 50,000 unpaid work requirements to punish offenders for crimes including theft, criminal damage and alcohol-related incidents.
The Community Payback website will also be relaunched early next year, making it far easier for members of the public to report anti-social behaviour and nominate potential projects in their neighbourhoods. This will work alongside the Government’s new reporting tool that will allow members of the public to quickly and easily report incidents of anti-social behaviour when they take place.
The payback pilot and the new reporting tool both form part of the Government’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published in March. This sets out how the Government plans to crack down on these offences at a local level and give communities a greater say in how justice is served.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Alex Chalk said: "Anti-social behaviour is a blight on our society and can leave proud neighbourhoods feeling neglected. These rapid deployment teams will mean eyesores are dealt with swiftly to restore community pride and ensure convicts are made to give back to the communities they have offended against."
The scheme will be piloted in the Probation Service regions of Greater Manchester, East of England and Wales as well as the North East, meaning they will benefit some of the areas worst affected by anti-social behaviour in the country.
Wearing high-visibility jackets emblazoned with “Community Payback” ensures offenders are seen to pay for their crimes while carrying out work that benefits the local community. Last month, a new law also came into effect requiring probation services to consult annually with specific community leaders such as charities, victim organisations and elected policing bodies on the type of unpaid work that would benefit the region.
