Child arrests reduction not down to being ‘soft on crime’
Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has reacted to new figures showing a drastic reduction in the number of child arrests over the last decade.
Katy Bourne said she welcomed the two thirds reduction in the number of children being arrested in Sussex since 2010.
She added: “I don’t think we should see this as the police being soft on youth crime, rather we should recognise their efforts to work with other partners to help deter and prevent young people from being drawn into criminal behaviour.”
Katy said the REBOOT programme that the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office ran from the spring of 2019 offered a series of staged interventions for young people who were showing signs of becoming involved in crime and violence.
She added: This cross-sector approach brought together community groups, social enterprises, youth services and schools, private sector organisations and police.”
After the programme had been running for two years, 1,171 young people had received support and monitoring.
A further 377 had one-to-one mentoring and coaching from YMCA, the Police and Crime Commissioner told this newspaper.
She added: Of the total number of young people supported by REBOOT over two thirds were not recorded as having committed further offences which shows a higher degree of success than many other diversion schemes.”
Katy said that the REBOOT scheme is now managed by Sussex Police rather than the Police and Crime Commissioner.
She added: “I hope they can maintain or improve that level of successful intervention.”