"It's far greater & more complex than untrained coppers making a bad call:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jnrk4xlvdo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70g18vpwxvo
- Scotland Yard downgraded Levy's risk to women upon his release in 2024
- The Met took three years to investigate and charge Levy with the sexual assault of the prison officer
- British Transport Police's (BTP) investigation into Levy's sexual assaults meant he was not charged for more than six months, despite being filmed carrying out an attack
- The Met and BTP both gave Levy back a stolen travelcard which let him travel without paying and commit crimes, including the first murder
- The CPS has apologised for "shortcomings" in its attempts to have Levy remanded in custody.
"they down graded the high risker... a po would not have downgraded him."
Everything's a mess. The entirety of the justice system (police, courts, probation, prisons, victim work) has been severely maltreated for decades, eroded & corroded by financial & moral starvation, ridiculed by the political class, mismanaged by Whitehall & hung out to dry by the media. The culture & nature of justice has been distorted.
We now seem to have a model that, with the rapid expansion of social media, means victims & their advocates have direct access & influence over government policy. That might not be a bad thing in & of itself, of course, but it has meant that the new government has been doing embarassingly poor public cartwheels over the Sentencing Act.
Sadly the last twenty or so years have seen some of the most contentious & damaging changes imposed upon the justice system, with frontline staff in all departments having little to no say; indeed, saying "it's shit & won't work" but being ignored, only to be proved right some time later, time & time again.
Even more sadly, those who sat in remote offices in Whitehall doing the sums, drafting the spreadsheets & writing the glossy reports promoting pointless change have never & will never been held to account for their wilful vandalism to public services & the massive holes they made in public finances. £Billions have been wasted on any number of vanity projects.
But hold up a sign saying "Palestine Action", sit in a road blocking weapons destined for a genocidal state or daub paint on a statue & you'll be remanded into custody for months on terrorism charges."
The Sex Offender Register has distorted everything and needs to be abolished. There are so many on it now police and probation can't see the wood for the trees. Dangerous multiple reoffenders are downgraded to save work whilst thousands of low to no risk ex offenders are monitored for decades after their conviction is spent. Only known and proven recidivists should be on a register.
ReplyDeletesox
Yes,yes and yes to 10:08……..and while you’re at it push for written questions at parole hearings, I’m sick of ex coppers who never forget that they are ex coppers…..going off on tangents that are not relevant
ReplyDeleteJim, I knew you couldn’t stay away!
ReplyDeleteI can’t comment on the specifics of this case, but at least he’s off the streets and hopefully for good. The article does mention probation and makes clear that his sentence had ended. No doubt some poor PO will be thrown under the bus anyway. That’s usually the easiest thing to do when the system fails. And it does show failings, but not by probation.
One of the worst things probation has done in recent years is become far too cosy with the police. IOM, Public Protection Units, RSO teams, VISOR, MAPPA and all the rest of it. Where has it actually got us? We’ve blurred the lines between two overstretched organisations that are supposed to have very different roles. Probation is not the police. We don’t need to become the police-lite version of the police. Yet there are plenty of POs and SPOs who seem to secretly fantasise about having powers of arrest and a pair of handcuffs.
The irony is that probation has spent years being told to be more “professional”, while simultaneously being dragged closer and closer towards policing. They are fundamentally different professions and should remain so, which won’t be realised with the £700m of tagging and monitoring responsibilities about to be forced upon us. And with plenty of its problems with racism, sexism and misogyny within policing we just seem to ignore, so since probation has it’s own problems becoming even more closely aligned with them hardly seems like a brilliant strategy.
OMIC aligned us more with prisons, and TR with private companies, look where that got us. The problem is the wider system and the pen pushing idiots designing and reforming it.
Anon 11:09 That'll teach me not to read or copy and paste the article!
Deletehttps://www.probation-institute.org/news/independent-statutory-regulation-of-probation-practitioners
ReplyDelete,Getafix
The Probation Institute welcomes the formal consultation by HMPPS on independent external regulation of the probation service. We have pressed for this for many years. This consultation seeks views on who should be included in independent professional registration, frequency of registration and the type of organisation that should become the regulator.
DeleteWe will be responding to this important consultation and we would love to hear members views on the specific questions to inform our discussions. Please respond directly online or send us an email to admin@probation-institute.org
The consultation is open until 8th October.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/independent-statutory-regulation-of-probation-practitioners
About time, because what does “registered” even mean at present? There are plenty of “registered” probation officers who haven’t done actual probation work for eons.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment we’ve got about 15 different names for essentially the same job — probation officer, probation practitioner, responsible officer, offender manager, community offender manager, etc. — while the actual qualification has been dumbed down to the point where an 18-year-old with one A level, zero life experience and little interest in the profession can sign up and become a probation officer in 15 months.
And then we’re told it’s a “recognisable qualification” with “transferable skills”. It’s essentially HND/first-year university level, yet somehow we’re pretending it represents a meaningful professional qualification or career pathway. PQiP and probation officer status increasingly looks like a dead-end job with nowhere meaningful to go.
Then there was last year’s farce of jumping through hoops with that abysmal mandatory Red Snapper training to become “registered”, followed by a manager signing you off as long as you hadn’t upset anyone and had passed POLICE vetting. What an absolutely ridiculous way to define professional registration.
So yes, it’s about time there was proper statutory regulation and a credible probation practice regulatory council. And, frankly, the last thing it needs is ANY current or former probation employee who has been SPO, Deputy, Head of PDU, RPD or above anywhere near it. We’ve seen enough of that model already.
I’d probably give the regulatory role to the Probation Institute — although they’ve always seemed rather more interested in romancing Justice Ministers and so-called charity organisations than actually regulating the profession. And Napo doesn’t know its aris from its elbow when it comes to probation practice.
I Googled this and AI explains the current state of probation as being in such dire need of regulation that England is now considered an outlier in the UK, Europe and internationally — we seem to have lost Wales too:
“…… The phrase ‘Outlier England’ refers to a July 2025 post on the On Probation Blog, which discusses how England’s probation delivery model risks becoming an isolated and criticised outlier compared to other progressive European systems and developments in Wales.”
So, Jim, since you’ve already coined the phrase “Outlier England”, perhaps you should be the regulator and help fix it? At least the job description is already written.
https://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/outlier-england.html?m=1
… and who could argue with Fergus McNeill and Gerry McNally - get them on the regulatory panel too!!
DeleteAnon 12:58 Talking of AI, I asked it what the standing of the blog was and got this:-
DeleteThe On Probation Blog is widely respected within the UK justice sector as an insightful, authentic commentary on the criminal justice system. However, rather than an objective news source, it functions as a platform for critique, personal experience, and advocacy.
Key Aspects to Consider
Author Credentials: The blog is written by Jim Brown, an experienced, CQSW-trained, veteran probation officer who has worked in the North of England for many years.
Industry Recognition: His insider perspectives are highly valued by criminal justice experts and have been spotlighted by authoritative justice sector commentators like Russell Webster.
Editorial Stance: Jim Brown writes from a distinctly "old school" practitioner perspective. The blog is highly critical of recent decades of privatization, government reorganization, and the metric-driven, bureaucratic nature of modern probation.
Community Consensus: The blog hosts active comment threads. In discussions surrounding the degradation of working conditions and the struggles of front-line practitioners, readers largely agree with his assessments of the sector.
How to Use It
The blog is an excellent, trusted source if you are looking for on-the-ground experiences, critical analysis of probation policy, and the day-to-day realities of casework. If you are looking for impartial policy statistics or official government data, you should cross-reference his observations with the HM Inspectorate of Probation
Well, Jim, if AI is describing the blog as an influential platform for practitioner critique, personal experience and advocacy, then you’re already doing half the job of the regulator!
DeleteSeriously though, the “Outlier England” point is pretty relevant to this consultation. A lot of the questions raised there about probation’s purpose, identity, rehabilitation, risk and where it was heading were arguably ahead of their time, and we’re now having those very conversations.
If we’re deciding who should be professionally registered, how often and who should regulate probation, those involved need to recognise that “Outlier England” is largely what has been created over many years. Any regulator needs to be genuinely independent and willing to challenge the current model, not simply regulate it. So perhaps, Jim, you’ll take up the mantle and become the regulator! At least the blog has already written your job description.
Do not let “ANY current or former probation employee who has been SPO, Deputy, Head of PDU, RPD or above anywhere near it.”
DeleteHear hear!
The relationship between police and probation has now become one akin to a sub and a dom with the sub bending over backwards to please the dom……at every opportunity
ReplyDeleteAnyone want a job?
Deletehttps://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/26444498.moj-looking-lie-detector-examiner-east-lancashire/