The annual report on the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is published today, giving re-assurance that the public is being protected from people who might otherwise commit more violent or sexual crimes.

In a joint foreword in the report, Chief Constable Alex Marshall; Barrie Crook, Chief Officer of Hampshire Probation Area, and Bruce Davison, Head of the Social Inclusion Strategy Unit for prisons in the area, said public confidence is now a key measure of success for all who manage the most dangerous individuals within our society.
 
They stressed that communication among agencies is crucial to prevent serious violent and sexual offending and said the MAPPA method of achieving this goal has been so successful that it will be applied to the supervision of other offenders next year.
 
The agencies include all the specialists needed to ensure the safety of the public, led by the police, probation and prison services.  During 2008/09 there were 1,647 people under MAPPA supervision, all having records of previous violent or sexual offences.
 
Only two offenders were charged with further serious offences during the year. The report says the two are still awaiting trial. Since the report was written, one man, charged with rape, was found not guilty. The other, charged with indecent assault on a man, was sentenced to a further 12 months’ imprisonment.
 
The report explains that the offenders are categorised as registered sex offenders, violent offenders and other dangerous offenders. They are managed at three different levels. Just 14 people needed the highest level of management, requiring additional resources and ongoing senior management oversight.  None of these 14 re-offended.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ashthorpe, the constabulary’s head of offender management, said:

“The MAPPA annual report is published to better inform the community about the work of all agencies to protect the public from serious harm.  It must be remembered that there are real people behind the statistics, people who are assessed as posing the highest risk of harm.  These are people who, year on year, are being effectively managed in the community because of the hard work put in by those staff whose primary duty is public protection.
 
“Hampshire Constabulary is committed to public protection and constantly strives to improve our service.  One example was the introduction during the last year of the Disclosure Pilot, which allows members of the public to apply to the police for information about people who may pose a risk to children or vulnerable adults.  This service is available throughout the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and shows the police and MAPPA agencies need to work in partnership with the public to protect vulnerable sections of the community from harm.
 
“We are proud of the work of our staff, day in and day out, and the report shows some evidence of the success they achieve through their hard work.”

Hampshire and Isle of Wight MAPPA leaders also affirmed that, although the agencies face increasing financial cuts, when it comes to deciding how resources are used, priority will continue to be given to safeguarding the public from those offenders who pose the greatest levels of risk.

Chris Mitchell, Director of Offender Management for Hampshire Probation, said:

“We are proud of all the interventions by the MAPPA agencies that have prevented more crimes being committed. We cannot talk about them, so the public only hear about this work when a further offence makes headline news.  Sadly, there will be occasions when people commit further offences.
 
“However, it is a huge achievement to prevent further serious crime, even though an offender’s whole lifestyle indicates that the risk of re-offending is high. Although we cannot comment on individual cases, we are keen that people should know more about how we operate. This report will help and is on our websites: http://probation.hants.gov.uk or www.hampshire.police.uk, but we are also willing to talk to community groups about our work.”