Police, Prison and Probation

Who is it aimed at?

ASPOS concentrates on those offenders who are causing the most harm to the community and for whom other sentencing options have failed. Most of these will have a Class A drug habit.

How does it work?

Police intelligence and Probation records are used to target the most prolific offenders.

Offenders are encouraged to clear up any outstanding crimes, whether detected or not, before starting on the programme. Each offender follows an individual programme of intervention which includes surveillance, drug treatment, cognitive skills training, employment training and education, and challenges to offending.

Offenders are invited to co-operate with the rehabilitative aspect of the scheme, but if they do not, police surveillance and enforcement are increased. The requirements for each offender are far higher than normal probation service national standards for supervision (e.g. reporting four times per week rather than once).

Does it work?

Over an eight month period the scheme prevented 1,200 offences and saved the community nearly £2 million in criminal justice costs.