As a drug service organisation, that engages with drug users at the point of arrest, SMART inevitably crosses paths with people who are known as prolific and priority offenders (PPOs).
PPOs are a group of offenders, identified by the police, as being of particularly high risk to the community.
It is estimated that approximately 10% of the active offender population is responsible for half of all crimes, and that a very small proportion of offenders (0.5%) are responsible for every 1 in 10 offences.
Prolific and priority offenders commit acquisitive crimes (ie: burglary robbery, car crime, theft), and SMART specifically supports individuals who are commiting these crimes to fund their drug use.
The Prolific and other Priority Offender (PPO) strategy was announced by the Prime Minister in 2004 to provide end-to-end management of this group of offenders. This was followed up by a three way strategy: Prevent and Deter, Catch and Convict and Rehabilitate and Resettle. The PPO schemes, in which SMART is involved cover the latter two interventions.
The primary aim of Prevent and Deter is to work intensively with young offenders locally identified as being on the 'cusp' of becoming PPOs. The individuals are usually identified in response to an escalation in their offending, and/or harm they are causing to their communities. At this stage multi-agency support is used to help positively influence these individuals lives, and divert them away from a lifestyle of offending.
A managed multi-agency approach to tackle offending behaviour of individuals, locally idenitified as commiting most crime and causing most harm to their communities.
The aim of Rehabilitate and Resettle is to manage offenders - whether in custody or in the community - and provide support and priority access to services. With multi-agency partnerships, individuals identified as PPOs have a good chance of overcoming deeply entrenched issues and behaviour.
