Offenders work to pay back community
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THE number of hours offenders have spent carrying out unpaid work in the community has gone up in the last three years.
Figures show those sentenced to undertake community payback orders are doing more to help improve the community.
The Highland Council’s Criminal Justice unpaid work supervisor, Rodney Brass, said locals taking part in the scheme have carried out work which may not have been completed without them.
It follows a call from the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council for more information to be made public on what work is being undertaken in Caithness as part of the scheme.
In 2008, the Highland average for offenders carrying out community service was two hours and 25 minutes. But Mr Brass said in the last three years, the average time spent a week by offenders had risen to over five hours.
Wick Highland councillor Graeme Smith said it is encouraging to hear the figure is rising and asked about the possibility of getting offenders involved in a larger variety of projects.
"Three years ago, figures showed the amount of time offenders were working in the community took the same time as someone walking to Harmsworth Park to watch a football game and go home," he said.
"It didn’t seem to be much of a punishment or a deterrent for offenders. I hear now that, on average, offenders do 100 hours of unpaid work in the community over a period of six months which suggests that the figure has risen.
"If the hours are increasing, could we increase the amount of supervisors to increase the amount of projects they are involved in, as at the moment the scheme is very restricted in what they can actually do."
Mr Brass said due to regulations they were limited to a number of projects offenders could be involved in, but said the scheme is making a difference to the community.
"Funding to pay for extra supervisors would have to come from the Scottish Government," he explained.
"We are also limited to certain projects due to health and safety issues as specific skills would have to be taught before they can engage in certain activities. For example, we couldn’t give someone a chain saw and ask them to cut down trees if they were not trained how to use equipment.
"Along with cost issues in training them how to use equipment, it is not a feasible idea to expand the range of projects."
In the last 12 months, offenders on community payback orders have been involved in activities throughout the Far North such as refurbishing memorial benches, making picnic tables, weeding streets and picking up litter as well as gritting the streets in icy conditions.
The Highland Council also offers the unpaid work scheme initiative to individuals and organisations to carry out maintenance duties which they may not be able to carry out themselves. Numerous charities and voluntary organisations in the county are said to have benefitted from the skills and experience of offenders on the scheme.
