I am in a nice simmer of fury tonight and could provide more unintended consequences ...how about the delius entry that couldn't be accessed to check the offender arriving at probation from outside area for whom a warrant was outstanding.... high risk of course...and who sat in the waiting room with vulnerable woman with her child in tow...and therefore breached his SOPO on probation premises.....or the offender who gives the court an address where he is prohibited from living at as his child resides there on CP Plan but he is not allowed there with the child and CDO for some still unfathomable reason could not access her IT...or the probation officer who has been assured by the manager no extra work will be given and then gets 2 more psrs because of staff sickness and then has a full meltdown and is signed off straight away for 4 weeks.....
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I share everyone's ire at the idiot Grayling. But I think in the event of a tragedy the audit trail leads back to the old trusts senior management teams. They knew full well what this idea would bring and opted for the Nuremberg defence. Grayling is (I believe) ignorant, whereas our leadership know the complexity of what we do. Yet they stayed supine and only a very few gingerly raised some concerns. Imagine what would have happened if all SMG's just said 'No'. Call me an idealist if you like but there you go.
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There were lots of things they could have done. I still can't quite compute the shocking reality of hearing my colleague tell me over the phone that they cannot access 'the system'. They don't know who is walking through the door. This is MADNESS. It feels strange that Management have allowed this to happen so easily. They have been bullied by this discriminatory Govt without any co-ordinated effort to resist it. It's called wilful blindness and others suffer as a result.
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Aren't the new RSR and CAS forms completely pointless & a waste of valuable time. Saying the same thing that's in the OASys already?
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More demoralising of the experienced CRC staff, today at our office 2 newly qualified officers got contracts with NPS, one has had 2 previous interviews and didn't get through and the other has been on the trainee course twice. We didn't even know that there was any vacancies, so much for the "most experienced staff going to NPS", they now have newly qualified staff that have never held a high risk case load. Its absolutely disgusting how CRC staff are continuing to be made to feel.
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Totally agree, breaches rejected by NPS staff who then refuse to discuss because you are CRC staff. Made to feel like second class Probation Officers who are no longer capable of doing their job!
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Refusing to discuss a rejected breach is taking even this insanity a step too far. Raise it as an issue. As an NPS court officer I would be furious If I worked with that kind of attitude around me and would not tolerate it.
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Breaches done by CRC and rejected by NPS which then leads to further delay increases risk. Recent case were DV client was breached on grounds that he failed to attend his appointment. Enforcement action was timely. Order was returned to court but, because a home visit was not conducted, a decision was taken to withdraw the breach a few days before his Court appearance. A home visit was conducted where he lived alone in his flat. There was no response. A further appointment was offered and when he failed to attend, a fresh set of breach papers prepared and sent into court.
By now there has been a delay of several weeks before he last attended the office. Before the next court hearing the offender stabbed his partner and charged with section 18 wounding. This could well have been an SFO case. Guess who would have been conveniently blamed, not the f**king senior managers who are implementing this pile of shit system. Not the breach officers in court, who is being instructed to carry out their work by the f**king manager. The blame was squarely put on the CRC PO. Why, because one f**king home visit was not done.
We could have protected this victim if the breach was allowed to continue, given that his index offence was DV. Maybe his court appearance at breach court could have shaken him up and he realises that he needs to get his act together. Maybe he might not have attended court at all in which case a warrant would have been issued and the police would have been looking for him. Is anyone going to tell the victim that maybe if we prosecuted him at the first point this could have been avoided. No. The fact is that our actions failed this woman and as a consequence she was subject to a serious assault which almost cost her life. How can management sleep knowing that TR is increasing risk? They can because they don’t give a shit about you or me. They don’t give a shit about the victims. The only thing they care about is their own sense of power and covering their own backs. That’s the f**king reality of what we have to work in.
I don’t apologies one single bit if my language is offensive and I have caused offence. I am offended by TR and offended by the way the procedures are failing victims.
And if you asking why I'm anonymous, then fucking guess why... in case I get bullied for exposing the dangerous practices which are occurring in the name of TR.
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I would not have rejected your breach and have never in long service come across or used such a feeble excuse for not proceeding with a wholly appropriate course of action in timely manner with view to enforcing order of the court and protecting known victim. I agree with everything your have said, I empathise with your anger and frustration that your work has been obstructed by nonsensical decision making leading to as you rightly say, potentially avoidable harm...
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Yesterday, from just one CRC PO in one office in England - a DV case rang me from another county. Told me he'd been arrested & charged last week with a new s.37, bailed to court, can't go home. Living in a caravan in a layby. Nowt forthcoming from our police intel because they can't talk to me without a 5 page written application from me with specific questions. I used to get emails or phone calls on the day if one of my cases was in the cells.
And another case awol after prison release - couldn't get police intel as to whether she was in cells anywhere or involved in any new offences because I'd been unable to correctly answer a question in the 5 page application. I know nothing about her as there's no case file (yet) and no access to IT records because they're locked to NPS. I used to ring the intel unit direct, have a good chat and both sides had a mutual understanding. TR is Bloody dangerous and bloody stupid.
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I have seen elsewhere that the police have probation on their business risk register - that is appalling! It has taken years to develop the relationship and it could be lost in the blink of an eye.
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I work in the IOM and get some very probing questions by the Inspector at the Police station. I've been totally honest about the situation and he is not too impressed at what is going on, to the extent that he has raised it with the P&CC at a recent meeting.
The officers I work with are now shouldering a greater % of the workload, this simply due to me being allocated non IOM cases which whilst not as resource intensive, still need ISP's, still need apt, still need referrals. Welfare visits are now a thing of the past and I feel very much out of the loop, something picked up on by both my IOM colleagues and offenders. Anyone who has worked or has knowledge of the IOM cases know that if these offenders go off the rails, it's unlikely that it will be one victim that suffers but many.
Still, as long as it's not Grayling or his cronies and PbR is on the back burner, who cares about the proles?
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Our crc team is outrageously understaffed and overwhelmed by cases - no amount of money would justify report writing 'on the side'. How can it have become so wrong so quickly? It takes a very special fuckwit to do so much damage in such a short timescale.
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NAPO in Gloucestershire sent an email this week to a senior NPS manager to highlight that things in NPS are past breaking point and requesting they address the situation immediately. Not sure what they can do, apart from looking to recruit temp staff. Which will be another kick in the teeth of CRC sifted colleagues!!!
MoJ - stop spouting the bullshit. You will be left to carry the can when someone is killed as a result of this mess, whilst Grayling will be off destroying another service and maintaining that he left everything just peachy and safe. Have the courage of your convictions and whistle blow.
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No-one in our office will help NPS out. More because they chose CRC to get out of NPS - yes I know its strange but not all POs in CRC were shafted there but that's not to say they'll help NPS out. I also firmly believe some POs deliberately shafted to CRC so that they would have some POs with lots of experience and be a saleable asset to bidders. The whole thing stinks.
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Bureaucracy in prisons is undermining the whole system, Offender Supervisors are spending their days chained to their computers completing OASys and variety of reports and risk assessments. The result is prisoners are not being seen, stresses are building and violence is on the rise. Many in prison have mental health issues and many have been damaged via their contact with the state or damaged from within the home. They need to be seen, they need to talk about their problems but this is the last thing on the minds of overstretched prison staff.
I fear for the well-being of staff and clients in what is becoming a long hot summer in the prison estate. Prison managers have no idea how the impact of a fragmented Probation Service will affect them; blindly they follow the demands imposed on them by the fools in Westminster and NOMS. They are managerial Zombies similar to our very own senior management, "forgive them for they know not what they do".
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The whole operating model for TR is based on ignorance, erroneous assumptions and a lack of informed and consequential thinking. This also applies to Grayling's prison policy. It is a time-bomb that is going to go off any time. A tragedy is inevitable and prisoners are already dying. How much evidence is enough?
Week 7 and things are getting worse rather than better, these "Teething Problems" are infinite. NOMS stop spinning bullshit that you know is inaccurate. I feel like I am having a psychotic episode every time I am in work, and I think others will probably share this feeling. So NOMs can you please pass this accurate information onto your bidders and stop spouting shyte about "everything is running smoothly" COS ITS NOT.
ReplyDeleteThat's why this blog is important in bearing witness to the dangerous practices inflicted upon officers by managers who have spent as little time as possible on the front line then got out as they could not stand the heat....make sure that if you are on the recieving end of an SFO your manager is by your side-this will be the measure of their support
ReplyDeleteWhen I did have an SFO I was lucky enough to have an SPO who did support me. She was proper "old school" and was never popular with the shiny-shoes, "yes-chief-I-will" brigade who dominated local management. She eventually left, a great loss to the profession.
DeleteMy view is that this is deliberate degradation of probation so that the vacuum created by this mess can be "rescued" by the Primes, It is typical of Grayling throughout this process, be it probation or prisons, to degrade something so that anything looks better than what we are left with. This way the old system (incidentally the award winning system that WORKED) is broken to the point that it cannot be rescued and that suits his purpose. Grayling will spin any risk issues to his purpose;
ReplyDelete1. an SFO? Grayling/Spurr " this is proof of a failing service and it is vital the reforms are speeded up"
2.staff stress? Grayling/Spurr " we must address this public sector attitude that staff are entitled to more sick days than private sector workers"
3. IT meltdown Grayling/Spurr "the systems are bedding in"
4. Prison riots Grayling/Spurr " prisoners must be behave and we will bring in greater punitive changes until they do including loss of privileges such as food and water"
5. Police investigating the Primes? Grayling/Spurr " we will allow them to rename a subdivision of their business and give them even bigger contracts"
6. Due diligence? Grayling/Spurr " tell us what you need and we will change the system to suit"
7. What is the cost to date of the TR process? Grayling/Spurr " we will refuse to tell you or Parliament because we need to keep this hidden so will say it is too commercially sensitive at this stage. We will keep saying this until all contracts are signed"
8. Staff trying to get the truth out before the contracts are signed? Grayling/Spurr " Let's start tracing these people and disciplining them"
It really is shyte as so many before me have so accurately stated....
Yeah, but as NAPO keep saying, send us all your problems....where we'll sit on them and occasionally put one on our front web-page, just to give the impression that we are listening.
DeleteWell said....however, there is evidence that the Probation Service was a highly effective first rate organisation before TR - I recall my local MP mentioning my letter to him in dispatches during one of those Commons debates...so it is all in Hansard and here, for the future.
DeleteI think you will find the section 18 wounding meets the criteria for a SFO - make sure the instruction to withdraw the breach is recorded appropriately.
ReplyDeleteNow ............the role of the Police in stuff...we have been particularly vexed by a specific situation one of our colleagues has been in. A client leaves prison early May - a DV case...he immediately breaches a number of victim lead/victim protecting licence conditions. It was reported to the PO that the Police were called to attend a dispute in the street, by a member of the public. The Police attend and our client, is with his victim, and she is sporting a bruised and battered face; she declines to make a complaint, but this is reported to Probation. So, my colleague quite appropriately seeks to recall the client to HMP, as the risks were immediately evident and his failure to comply with his licence obvious. So 20 days after his release, on 23 May 20014 MoJ revoke his licence. Despite several phone calls and emails to various Police, including the Safeguarding Sgt, advising of where said client could be found...the warrant was not acted on. On 17July 2014 we received a phone call from the Police to say he had been arrested and charged with a further offence, against the same female victim and was in cells.....the officer seemed to think he would be bailed by Court so my colleague said on no less than 4 occasions, he must not be released, his licence has been revoked please ensure he is transferred to HMP. My colleague on putting the phone down, was not entirely convinced that the Police officer she had spoken to, really understood the situation and we waited with baited breathe to see that he was in fact returned to custody. He was, but the protocols supposedly in place failed big time and this could have been catastrophic for the victim.
I thought SFO/Sec 18 was only applicable if the offender was already a high ROH? Otherwise it's just rape/attempted murder etc.
DeleteMight be wrong, thankfully I have had very little experience of SFO's.
*touches wood*
If you are overworked, each time you are allocated a new case please inform your manager of your situation by email, copying in your Union rep and BCC to yourself. It might just make the difference when fingers start getting pointed as you can legitimately say that you informed those who needed informing. Failure to do this, I assure you, will leave you up a very shitty creak!!
ReplyDeleteOne email, two minutes of your time.
Your choice.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteWhy not a blog asking people to make a guestimate of how much their CPA will be sold for, with a prize for the closest? I'll start.
Northumbria: £24million
I thought they were all being sold for £1 each.
DeleteThat's correct however each much have some form of working capital to cover costs, this allegedly less than what it is being ran at present.
DeleteI'll give it 12 months and you'll be lucky to get a £1 for them!!!!
£1.00? That's what they sold Rangers FC for, and look what happened to them!
DeleteAt this present stage the mess the service is in throughout the UK, if I was a bidder I would think very hard and carefully before investing my pound. Especially if one of your prized CRC's has an SFO and you have to pay out billions trying to push the blame, with the public and government demanding answers that could result in hefty fines.
DeleteAnon 13:24 It's already happened to us.
Manchester. A handfull of Sainsburys vouchers :)
DeleteWhoever becomes preferred bidder will then further negotiate on the issues that have come up since ITN and with the better view of the "going concern"
Delete- Now from what everybody says about the omnishambles that is TR , what kind of a position will MoJ be in to negotiate ?
The bidder will have them(whichever CPA mix they have) over the proverbial barrel !!
The cost will be how much they are prepared to do the job for and so at this rate it could end up costing significantly MORE than it does presently......That is value for money??
Here's another example. No NPS managers available in our office accept CRC. Had an urgent recall which needed to be done. Asked the CRC manager if they would sign Part A recall paper. Said they could not and had to be done by NPS manager. Rang the duty NPS manager who was away at a meeting, who said not able to do it because at a managers meeting. Was asked to contact the nearest NPS manager in a different office a good 10 miles away. Couldn't speak to any of the NPS managers because one was on leave, the other in supervision. Was asked to leave a message which I did (even though said it was urgent). Waited and waited and then got back to me later in the day. The whole process took five hours for the recall to be approved. Normally a five minute job turned into a five hours job, because the manager who was in couldn’t sign it because in CRC.
ReplyDeleteYou call that service delivery. The biggest pile of shite I have ever come across.
The example you stated is replicated 100's of times a day across the country, and they says its all going smoothly. We are lucky if we can achieve one thing a day with this endless failure of IT and TR. Truly SHAFTED. I think we should all be proud of ourselves in the way that we have tried to keep our good practice despite this shyte on a daily basis. But I am not sure how long we can endure this pain as staff are dropping like flies.
DeleteI work in the NPS, having being moved from my OM role to the Court team. Having trained as a Social Worker and having 12 years experience as a Probation Officer with my previous trust, I find my new role nothing short of demeaning. 90% of my time is sat writing Court reports, these lacking any real substance as I do not have the time to carry out full checks on what I am being told, nor fully assess the individual due to having reports waiting when I finish. A particular sad time for me was last week when I has to do a FDR on a client who, until TR, I had supervised in the community, was progressing well and more importantly we had a excellent rapport; basically he knew I was there for him. He had a further Shop Theft offence, caused by his benefits being sanctioned after missing an appointment. I know he is prone to forgetfulness and used to keep all of his appointments in my diary to remind him, most times arranging his appointments with me to coincide with his external appointments. Now I have no wish to criticise his new OM who I know is very experienced, but they simply did not know him as well as I did, most likely due to them getting a lot of new cases in a short period of time.
ReplyDeleteNow, Billy Bloggs said to me in interview, and this will stop with me for the rest of my life 'can you please please please put in your report that I would not have offended if you had still being supervising me?'. Now he does need to take personal responsibility for his actions, however it struck me that this may have been the case!
He got 6 weeks custody.
I'll always wonder what would or could have happened if I remained his OM :(