Here we have the first indication of how the MoJ intends to deal with the probation problem, helpfully outlined in this Telegraph article yesterday:-
Probation officers face annual spot checks after series of blunders
New checks on officers' abilities to protect public from violent offenders come after 'unacceptable' failings led to murder of Zara Aleena
Every probation officer in England and Wales faces an annual check on their ability to protect the public from violent offenders after blunders that led to the murders of two women and three children, the Telegraph can reveal. All 18,000 probation officers will undergo a spot check where at least one of their offenders’ cases chosen at random will be reviewed by watchdogs to check they have made an accurate assessment of the risk to the public, and that they have in place all the necessary safeguards.
Staff in London will face six-monthly checks after a series of devastating HM inspectorate reports found “shocking” standards of supervision across the capital and “unacceptable” failings that led to the sexual assault and murder of Zara Aleena, a 35-year old law graduate. She was killed by Jordan McSweeney in a random late night attack in Ilford, east London, just days following his release from prison after probation officers wrongly classed him as medium rather than high risk and failed to recall him to jail for breaches of his licence.
It was the second case in a month after inspectors found similar errors with triple child killer Damien Bendall, 32, who was also wrongly assessed as “medium risk” which meant he walked free from court on a suspended sentence before murdering his partner and three children with a claw hammer. The cases prompted Justin Russell, the chief inspector of probation, to warn it was “impossible to say” the probation service was keeping the public safe from released violent criminals because it was “not getting it right” in its “core function” to safeguard society.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Fara Naz, Zara’s aunt who has acted as the family’s spokesperson, said: “A lot of people will say that there are rare people who commit monstrosities and that Aleena was very unlucky. But, actually, her murder was facilitated by a state that wasn’t doing its job.” She said it was important “front line officers aren’t blamed”, but that their managers and the way competence is assessed throughout the system was scrutinised to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. “If I am a manager and my team is operating well, that’s down to me,” she said. “If I’m not doing a good job, then it’s down to the person supervising me. So ultimately, who is accountable? It’s very important that we don’t just blame the probation officers.”
She welcomed the spot checks announced by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), but said they did not go far enough. She is backing a call by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, for all released offenders rated as medium and high risk and being supervised by the city’s probation service to be reviewed to ensure the assessments are sound and safe.
In a letter to Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, and Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary - as seen by The Telegraph - Mr Khan urged an independent inquiry into McSweeney’s case to establish; what was known by prison, police and probation staff; what was done to mitigate the risk; and what more can be done. He also called for increased resources after HM inspectors warned in November that 500 vacancies in London were contributing to a staffing crisis that meant cases “could not be managed properly”, and that the “assessment and management of the risks of serious harm to the public are far from satisfactory”. They found nine out of 137 “medium risk” offenders in London had been wrongly categorised and should have been deemed as “high risk of serious harm”.
Under the new spot checks, any probation officers judged to have got it wrong will have their caseload reviewed, and receive extra training and support. The MoJ said a review of hundreds of “medium risk” cases in London had begun in November. It said urgent work was underway to improve the quality of risk assessments nationally through updated mandatory training for all new staff and strengthened quality checks of risk assessments, while an extra 2,500 probation officers had been recruited.
An MoJ spokesman said the murder of Zara Aleena was an “appalling” crime. “We apologise unreservedly to Zara Aleena’s family for the failings in this case,” he added.
Every probation officer in England and Wales faces an annual check on their ability to protect the public from violent offenders after blunders that led to the murders of two women and three children, the Telegraph can reveal. All 18,000 probation officers will undergo a spot check where at least one of their offenders’ cases chosen at random will be reviewed by watchdogs to check they have made an accurate assessment of the risk to the public, and that they have in place all the necessary safeguards.
Staff in London will face six-monthly checks after a series of devastating HM inspectorate reports found “shocking” standards of supervision across the capital and “unacceptable” failings that led to the sexual assault and murder of Zara Aleena, a 35-year old law graduate. She was killed by Jordan McSweeney in a random late night attack in Ilford, east London, just days following his release from prison after probation officers wrongly classed him as medium rather than high risk and failed to recall him to jail for breaches of his licence.
It was the second case in a month after inspectors found similar errors with triple child killer Damien Bendall, 32, who was also wrongly assessed as “medium risk” which meant he walked free from court on a suspended sentence before murdering his partner and three children with a claw hammer. The cases prompted Justin Russell, the chief inspector of probation, to warn it was “impossible to say” the probation service was keeping the public safe from released violent criminals because it was “not getting it right” in its “core function” to safeguard society.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Fara Naz, Zara’s aunt who has acted as the family’s spokesperson, said: “A lot of people will say that there are rare people who commit monstrosities and that Aleena was very unlucky. But, actually, her murder was facilitated by a state that wasn’t doing its job.” She said it was important “front line officers aren’t blamed”, but that their managers and the way competence is assessed throughout the system was scrutinised to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. “If I am a manager and my team is operating well, that’s down to me,” she said. “If I’m not doing a good job, then it’s down to the person supervising me. So ultimately, who is accountable? It’s very important that we don’t just blame the probation officers.”
She welcomed the spot checks announced by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), but said they did not go far enough. She is backing a call by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, for all released offenders rated as medium and high risk and being supervised by the city’s probation service to be reviewed to ensure the assessments are sound and safe.
In a letter to Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, and Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary - as seen by The Telegraph - Mr Khan urged an independent inquiry into McSweeney’s case to establish; what was known by prison, police and probation staff; what was done to mitigate the risk; and what more can be done. He also called for increased resources after HM inspectors warned in November that 500 vacancies in London were contributing to a staffing crisis that meant cases “could not be managed properly”, and that the “assessment and management of the risks of serious harm to the public are far from satisfactory”. They found nine out of 137 “medium risk” offenders in London had been wrongly categorised and should have been deemed as “high risk of serious harm”.
Under the new spot checks, any probation officers judged to have got it wrong will have their caseload reviewed, and receive extra training and support. The MoJ said a review of hundreds of “medium risk” cases in London had begun in November. It said urgent work was underway to improve the quality of risk assessments nationally through updated mandatory training for all new staff and strengthened quality checks of risk assessments, while an extra 2,500 probation officers had been recruited.
An MoJ spokesman said the murder of Zara Aleena was an “appalling” crime. “We apologise unreservedly to Zara Aleena’s family for the failings in this case,” he added.
--oo00oo--
Meanwhile, this is the reality as expressed by someone yesterday at 21:46:-
We are supposed to pull rabbits out of hats and wave magic wands to get people housed when there is no housing, get their mental health back on track when that service is pretty broken, sort out their relationships, mend their broken lives and heal their trauma, we basically have to do it all whilst chained to the computer screen churning out endless reports and doing mindless e training to show we have covered our arses when the next SFO comes in. The task has become impossible and meanwhile the new PQiP's fill up the desks that the experienced staff have vacated when they implode and go off with stress.
This is a bloody tough job, you have to be incredibly resilient to cope, yet maintain compassion. Sadly that compassion is lacking in the service as a whole. We are treated like robots and when we crack we will be shoved out into the junk yard because the service thinks the new PQiP's will be more malleable. Sadly they will likely use the service as a stepping stone and move on when they realise the dream job they were sold was a lie.
I have never felt so exhausted in the job, I was even hoping I might get thumped the other day by an angry 'pop', ridiculous term, as I could at least have taken a few weeks off. Can't see me lasting too much longer at this rate. Used to love the job and spent most of the day seeing the punters, doing home visits, proper prison visits, going to various meetings and a bit of computer time but now it's become a sedentary desk job interspersed with trying to pretend I can actually do RAR days and supervise people in the 10 to 20% time that's left over! How can that be right? The idea that some PO's can manage caseloads of 60 or 70 is frankly ridiculous. We have very little admin help and the time it takes to negotiate all the bureaucracy is ridiculous.
Management solution to coping with the crisis is to pile even more pressure on us. It's frankly ridiculous. PO's need more status and far more support. Start respecting us, listen to us and do what we say will work, bottom up and not top down. I have no respect for the ACO's that hide away pumping out more bureaucracy. They should have a few cases allocated to them so they can see the reality and how much time supervision of just one case can take up. Give all the ACO's and SPO's a couple of token cases and watch the colour drain from their faces, especially the SPO's who moan that they are not earning much more than a PO! Do they think their job is any harder?
