Police offer free driving lessons for drug dealers
YOUNG drug dealers are being offered driving lessons, boxing sessions and job training instead of prosecution.
The police scheme – the first of its kind in Britain – is an attempt to end the ‘revolving door’ of reoffending by giving criminals a chance of education and work.
Its supporters said it could help stop youngsters falling into the ‘county lines’ gangs that plague the country. Critics said the scheme risked rewarding criminality.
Youngsters caught drug dealing will be able to avoid going to court under the ‘Call-In’ scheme in Bristol. They must be between the ages of 16 and 21 and not have convictions for violent or sexual crimes.
Participants will be offered the chance to take part in free fitness clubs, workshops, motivational events, work placements and intensive one-to-one mentoring.
Funded partly by the city council, the scheme also offers non-contact boxing lessons to help with fitness and anger management as well as driving lessons to help with job prospects.
Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins of Avon and Somerset Police said most of the youngsters involved had only dabbled in dealing. ‘Why not give them a chance?’ he said. ‘What is there to lose?
‘We send them to prison and we’ll see them again.’ He admitted there was a risk they could reoffend during the six to nine-month period but said it was a risk the force was willing to take.
The force said the pilot project would be subject to independent academic evaluation to assess whether it was sustainable and had reduced drug dealing activity.
David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said it was an imaginative scheme.
He added: ‘It is an attempt to capture indolent youth and get them doing something else. For youngsters this makes some sort of sense – but the police and others will have to put a lot of effort into it.
‘So long as they are judiciously applying it to really small- scale beginner dealers then breaking the cycle would be a good thing.’
But David Green, chief executive of think-tank Civitas, said any education or rehabilitation should happen alongside prosecution.
‘It’s sending out the message that the police are not serious about enforcing the law against drug dealing,’ he added.
‘Drug dealers should, generally speaking, be punished severely.
‘Taking them off the streets protects the public from them and acts as a deterrent to others.
‘I’m all for people inside prison pursuing educational remedies which help them lead a law-abiding life on release.’
The scheme, which is based on a project in the US, is featured in a BBC News Channel documentary named Beyond The Frontline which will be broadcast tomorrow.
‘Put in a lot of effort’