A NEW government-led scheme run in schools to deter children from crime – following the discontinuation of Prison! Me! No! Way! – could begin later this year, according to the Home Affairs Minister.
Deputy Helen Miles said it was ‘essential to fill the gap’ left after funding for the charity’s schools programme was axed.
Prison! Me! No! Way ran classes in the Island’s schools to educate young people about the consequences of crime.
The programme was halted before the pandemic for the Home Affairs Department to review the future resourcing of the scheme. The end of Prison! Me! No! Way! was only confirmed by then-Home Affairs Minister Gregory Guida more than 18 months later in a written States question, in which he described the programme as ‘not currently operating’. He added, in his response, that workshops were being run to ‘determine the future direction’ and that there was ‘an opportunity to build on the legacy of the excellent work of PMNW, and design something that really works for the island’s young people’.
Deputy Miles – in a letter to the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel outlining her priorities for her first six months as minister – said: ‘As part of an overarching strategic focus on early intervention, it is essential that we fill the gap left after Prison! Me! No! Way! was discontinued.
‘Officers are working on a programme to be delivered by Justice and Home Affairs services and partners in schools, to protect and empower children and young people to become safe and responsible citizens.
‘This will build on the previous good work of PMNW as well as drawing on evidence of best practice to deliver up-to-date preventative content to the Island’s children.
‘It is anticipated that pilot sessions of this new programme will begin delivery before the end of this year.’
Deputy Miles also said that she had ‘established a short-life taskforce’ to review and report on violence against women. St Martin Constable Karen Shenton-Stone successfully brought an amendment to last year’s Government Plan, setting aside £200,000 for a taskforce and research into sexual and domestic violence.
Among the other priorities set out by Deputy Miles were to seek funding in the next Government Plan ‘to ensure that our frontline services are adequately resourced to operate effectively and perform their important functions’. This would include further funding for Jersey Customs to ‘be able to respond to the ongoing impacts of Brexit’ while a business case has been submitted for funding for States police.
The minister also said she wanted to set up a ‘refreshed’ community safety strategy, which was ‘allowed to lapse in 2019’. This would involve the department, including the police, working ‘closely with our important partners, are focused on responding to and ultimately preventing issues causing concern in our community’.
The Community Policing Team, which was re-established in January last year, recently launched a survey asking Islanders which areas of policing matter most to them.
