Police minister visits 'payback' scheme

Police minister Tony McNulty visited Tonge Moor in Bolton yesterday to praise a unique scheme in which offenders, who have been sentenced to complete unpaid work, take part in projects suggested by the community.

Following feedback from residents about problems with graffiti, fly-tipping and criminal damage, Bolton’s safer neighbourhoods teams requested help with clean-up operations.

This was provided by offenders through the Greater Manchester Probation service’s unpaid work unit, which carries out clean-up work under the supervision of local Police Community Support Officers.

Mr McNulty visited the UCAN Centre in Tonge Moor Road to meet residents and community leaders before setting out to see a group of offenders tidying up a stretch of Union Road.

He said: “The most powerful thing about the unpaid work is that it’s local offenders paying back through a range of projects, working locally.

“More and more of these offenders don’t go on to re-offend because it’s quite subtly telling them, ‘this is your community too, and if you are abusing it by offending you are offending your own community,’ so I think it’s very powerful.”

He said he believed the project boosted public confidence in the criminal justice system and that he did not believe community-based sentences were a soft option. He added: “What we can’t do is strike off the future of any young person because they slip off the road momentarily.

“If they go on to serious crime, then they should be dealt with thoroughly and in a very harsh way. But it’s about winning them back and winning back the confidence of the community.”

The Bolton scheme has been seen as national “best practise” and has been mentioned in the new Policing Green paper — From the neighbourhood to the national: policing our communities together.

Mr McNulty added: “What’s happening here in Bolton is that they understand that neighbourhood policing is only one part of community empowerment.”