Early intervention prevents youth crime, conference told

Early intervention is essential to addressing the problem of
youth crime, a leading police officer told delegates at a
conference in London, writes Clare
Jerrom
.

Deputy assistant commissioner of territorial policing Tim Godwin
said the main problem of tackling youth crime on London’s streets
was finding alternatives to crime, looking at the social provision
for young people and realising that “one size does not fit
all”.

Godwin told the Metropolitan Police Authority conference that
last year there was a 29 per cent increase in street crime on the
previous year, and so far this year there has been a 42 per cent
rise.

Under operation ‘safer streets’ more than 2,000 street robbers a
week are being arrested he added, which he cited as one of the
problems contributing to the record total in the prison
population.

Youths aged 14 to 17-years-old who used to start a life in crime
by shoplifting, where now being arrested for the first time as a
result of street crime, Godwin said.

Agencies working with young offenders should pool their
resources. “We want more joined up action not just joined up
thinking” he concluded.

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