Peterborough and Cambridgeshire crime commissioner relaunches scheme to tackle re-offending

The Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Scheme works in partnership to both supervise and rehabilitate those stuck in a cycle of re-offending across a range of crimes such as burglary, robbery and theft.

Police and Crime Commissioner, Darryl Preston said: “While this scheme has existed in our county for some time, today allows us to take a fresh look at how we can do more to help bring an end to some of the crimes that blight our communities,” explains Darryl.

“As a victim of burglary myself, shortly after the birth of our son while we were sleeping upstairs, I know that these sort of crimes can have a huge impact on people - it is a violation of our homes with precious family belongings forever taken away from us and a sense of not being safe in the one place we should be.

“My forthcoming Police and Crime Plan, due to be published in this Autumn will include a focus on community priorities, on crime prevention and on robust enforcement. This scheme works across all of these strands, responding to those crimes that impact on our communities, rehabilitating people stuck in a cycle of reoffending, but ultimately with the full force of enforcement tools available.

“I am pleased to see that work done by the IOM partnership has already been shared as regional best practice.”

Assistant Chief Constable, Vicki Evans adds: “IOM has been an established partnership in the Criminal Justice arena since it was developed out of the former Persistent and Prolific Offenders (PPO) scheme.

“While the police and probation services are firmly at this heart of this work, we can only truly make a difference with the support of other services both voluntary and statutory to help these offenders overcome the complex problems we know can fuel this type of behaviour, such as substance misuse, poor mental health, and issues with housing or employment. This refresh is an opportunity for us to re-focus our collective efforts to prevent harm in our communities and encourage people to turn their back on crime”

Matthew Ryder, Head of Service for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Probation Service said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity to help re-launch the IOM scheme in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. I believe the new strategy has given all agencies the chance to keep working together to renew our efforts to reduce those crimes that have a devastating impact on the local communities that we serve.

“Delivering an effective IOM scheme helps us to better identify those people who are prolific offenders in our communities and giving them opportunities to tackle the root causes of their criminal behaviour, whilst protecting the more vulnerable members of society.”

In 2020 a joint national review of IOM by the inspectorates of both Constabulary and Probation Services recommended the programme be refreshed and relaunched. The new Strategy for IOM was published in December 2020 with a focus on reoffending and rehabilitation in the area defined as ‘Neighbourhood Crime’.