The last two weeks have been filled with opportunities for me in Norwich.

Last week I was in demand from the national media; newspapers, radio and television in relation to our Restorative Justice approach to dealing with first time offenders.

This is particularly relevant as we approach the summer holiday periods where traditionally their is a rise in retail theft.

We are using Restorative Justice with young people committing such crimes to make them fully realise the damage they can cause by a lapse in their behaviour either through stupidity, peer pressure or both.

People who have been the victim of such crimes agree with the Restorative Justice approach as they can have a say in what happens to the person who has committed the crime.

Retail banning scheme

Coupled with my enhancement of the retail banning scheme, in partnership with and adopted by most large retailers in the city and both the shopping malls, this means that if caught shoplifting, a person will also be banned from all named stores and centres locally and nationally for six months, have their personal details taken by the store and a photograph obtained to place on an electronic database.

This has a huge impact on that person and their family, restricting their lives to some considerable effect, and is clearly acting as a great deterrent. The message is spreading among potential ‘first time offenders’ in high schools across the county and beyond.

Partnerships

This week, we continued working closely with Notre Dame School to establish a Safer Schools Partnership. This will establish a formalised relationship between my Policing team and the school; both staff and pupils.

We are committing time on a weekly basis to provide a strong basis for enhanced early intervention and crime prevention with young people in the area, which is a really positive move.

Delivering messages and safeguarding issues is key to preventing the criminalisation of children and young people and is in line with the National strategy.

On the topic of partnership working, I met this week with representatives from the City Council in relation to Neighbourhood Management. Looking at understanding our roles and responsibilities when working together as partners is important as we work towards the reduction and prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour in Norwich City Centre.

We are beginning to establish protocols and are attending beneficial forums, addressing peoples concerns pro-actively.

We continue to look at ways that we can improve our working relationship as so much of our time is spent working with the same people in some capacity or another.

I look forward to updating you again in another couple of weeks!