July 2010: The case of a notorious PPO in Essex was destined to result in a press field-day were he to re-offend. He committed another offence, and the judge, true to his word when he made the original order, sentenced him to five years for all offences, including those not detected but admitted to by him.

Prolific Offenders are the 10% of the offending population who commit 50% of crime. Though not dangerous offenders, their offending is frequent, damaging and costly to us all. Around 200 in Essex repeatedly steal, take drugs and commit antisocial behaviour, and cause the most distress to residents.

Challenging work
A good number of us could be tempted to throw away the key. That not being realistic, one of the questions that police and probation must ask is: Who are these people? Why do frequent bouts of imprisonment fail to have an impact?

The profile is challenging. A chaotic group, with major problems in all areas, they are often serious drug/alcohol abusers. They often turn up in A&E departments, and are frequently admitted to hospital. They will be in police custody suites many times. They’re in and out of prison. There are frequently mental health problems. Family ties are often poor, so few prospects of any good role models. They will be committing offences as an established pattern: the way they have learned to survive more often than not. And every item on this list costs us – a lot.

Muli-agency response
Next question: what DO we do with them? They will come out of prison at some point, and they go on to commit more offences. What do we want to achieve? Retribution and deterrence rarely work. To be deterred, they need to know how to think as we do and solve problems in a different way – to think before they act. What most victims want is that the criminal activity is stopped.
 Hence the set up of Prolific Offender teams nationally, and in every big Essex town about 25-30 offenders are targeted by Police, Probation, and other agencies as Persistent and Prolific Offenders (PPOs).

They get what we call a premium service. This means surveillance, monitoring, targeting their activities. They know they’re being watched individually – a variety of agencies are on their case. If they co-operate, they get intensive support for what is a massive effort to change. 

It could be support with drugs or alcohol problems; courses to develop skills and help in seeking jobs; specialist Probation programmes; help with finding accommodation (they have to pay for it – no freebies, contrary to media claims); possible removal out of area, away from criminal contacts, and police/probation collaboration, which can include joint interviewing in the Probation Office.

Costing the benefits
Is all this work at great cost to the community? Most of the work that is planned should be done anyway, by separate agencies. The difference is, in bringing in the agencies to the table, and planning with them, we can be more efficient, effective and tailor the work to that individual. He or she is told that we are concentrating on them – an uncomfortable experience, but one that some unlikely offenders have taken on board, moving on for the first time in years.

The reduction in costs of crime to the community and to us as individuals also includes less use of hospitals, police custody suites and other facilities. It also means a lot less victims.

Risks worth taking
But won’t they re-offend, given their past – thus causing the scheme to fail? What we do know is when they come out of prison normally, their high rate of offending is maintained. The reality is if we are going to stop the huge volume of crime, we have to take extraordinary steps. If they do fall by the wayside, and some do, the surveillance component is there to catch them – quickly. It is a risk, but is successful enough to make it a worthwhile one.