By providing essential information on offenders, the Public
Protection Register - a Lotus Domino based software application -
ensures maximum utilisation of time and resources
In order to streamline their management of offender supervision,
five London Probation Services - Inner London, Middlesex, South
East London, North East London and South West London - have started
using a Lotus Domino-based software application to monitor the
evaluation process of high risk offenders.
Known as the Public Protection Register, PPR is the result of close
collaboration between i2N, a Lotus business partner specialising in
workflow and commerce solutions, and a senior probation officer.
The application runs on the National Probation Service Information
Systems Strategy infrastructure, provided to the service by the
Home Office and Bull Information Systems Ltd. The system
incorporates a feature facilitating the removal of lower risk
individuals from intensive supervision, allowing probation officers
to concentrate on the most harmful offenders.
Principles behind
the PPRThe Register was designed around three
principles:Consistency: all registered offenders must be reviewed
regularly to determine changes in their level of
riskAccountability: all decisions pertaining to adding or removing
someone from the register must be "signed" by a probation officer
and reviewed by their immediate superior. Evaluations must also be
"signed" by a superior to ensure they are read and understood by
"more than one pair of eyes".Follow-through: the Register uses
Lotus Domino "workflow" capabilities to track the progress of all
offenders assessed as being a high risk. Workflow ensures that as
each phase of the assessment cycle is completed, the next phase
begins at the most appropriate time. Peter Harraway, chief
information systems officer for the Inner London Probation Service
says, "The Register helps us in two ways. First, it ensures that we
all know who the high risk offenders are, and the nature of that
risk. Secondly, it requires us to consider who else needs to be
involved to manage the risk. Not every high risk offender will
remain so forever and the review process aims to ensure that the
level of risk is regularly re-assessed and cases removed if the
risk lessens."In fact, this is an overall goal of Probation
Services. In the past, offenders were reviewed and evaluated as
part of a paper process that had become inconsistent and
time-consuming. Using Lotus Domino's workflow capability, PPR
ensures that reviews take place regularly. This gives us a smoother
process to determine whether the level of risk in a case is
increasing or reducing, and to take appropriate action in managing
the case."In the end, risk assessment is a decision involving
professional judgement. A computerised process will never replace
face to face contact and reviews with offenders, or be more than an
aid in the process we follow for evaluation, but Domino has proved
a very significant tool in that process," he adds.That said,
Harraway explains that during PPR's first year of use in Inner
London, 600 offenders were registered with 200 being removed.
"Because we've been able to identify and review assessments, we've
been able to refine the process and remove some cases where we
believe risk has been reduced. Through a more selective approach we
are able to target resources on those offenders where risk is
greatest and on managing those individuals, rather than spread
ourselves too thinly".
London-wide monitoring"The Greater
London services form the largest Probation Service in Europe, with
thousands of offenders to manage," explains Harraway. "At present
the Middlesex, Inner London and South West London probation
services use the Register to track their case work, with the North
East London and South East London probation services coming on
stream by summer 1999. Several other probation services outside
London are also in the process of rolling it out.""In addition,
subject to appropriate security, we are hoping the Register and
Domino will also be adopted by local police services, the new
multi-agency Youth Offending Teams, Social Services Departments and
other Agencies who come into contact with us and with dangerous
offenders, and who have a statutory responsibility to communicate
that information in a secure manner."We would then be able to make
available to them key information about all our Registered
Offenders who can move freely about the Greater London area, and
indeed, the whole of the country. Since managing risk effectively
demands a joint approach from probation, police, local authorities
and other agencies, the exchange of information is critical, and
has been recognised in powers under the 1998 Crime & Disorder
Act.
The changing organisation"For Probation Services, the
benefit of Lotus Domino and the Register has been in ensuring a
consistent process with very clear accountability. While we have
overall standards and processes, each case is dealt with
individually - avoiding one potential pitfall of computerising a
service like Probation."Domino has very quickly transformed a
large, bureaucratic organisation - we don't waste time with paper
processes anymore. And because information is in one place, it's
much easier for us to respond to the risk audit that The Home
Office requires of Probation each year," he says."We were
particularly surprised at the speed with which we were able to roll
it out to our 50 Offices, and 1000 staff; from idea to completion
took less than nine months, yet we were able to fund it from within
existing budgets. "The Register has also been a boon for internal
learning. In our previous, less open climate, each probation
officer tended to keep their case notes very much to themselves and
their immediate superiors. However, using Lotus Domino security, we
have been able to broaden access to these Case Notes between
probation officers without compromising their overall
security."This is having a transforming effect on our organisation:
We can now learn from each other's handling of cases. This is
giving us a better-trained organisation as a whole, and improving
each officer's ability to evaluate offender risk."Concludes
Harraway, "Finally, high risk offenders are now more closely
monitored, and cases appropriately reviewed by managers who can
track what's happening. We have improved communication, knowledge,
accountability and consistency, and that is key to enhancing our
capabilities in managing risk effectively and safely."
Geoff
Marshall