Kids clean up as punishment for breaking the law

Those responsible for the graffiti clean up the area.

Safer Neighbourhood officers in Long Eaton have been making young people collect litter and clean off graffiti as punishment for breaking the law.

Four children between the ages of 10 and 14 had to clean graffiti in the areas of High Street and Romorantin Place in the town as part of their punishment.

The young people were cleaning for one or two hours, and one of the children also had to write an apology letter to the owner of the property he had damaged.

In another area of Long Eaton, three teenagers had to collect litter for two hours following incidents of shoplifting.

Those involved also had to pay for the goods they stole, which included chewing gum and sweets, and write apology letters.

PC Nicola Walker of the Long Eaton Town Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team said: "These are good examples of restorative justice, as a positive outcome was achieved for all involved.

"The project, introduced by Derbyshire Constabulary, has been running since the beginning of April 2009 and more than 3,000 cases across the county have been dealt with by restorative justice.

"This means that a crime was dealt with in a way which achieved a positive outcome in accordance with the victims' wishes without the case going through the court process. The crime is recorded as usual but dealt with in a more proportionate way."

If a victim requests an alternative to the criminal justice system to deal with local minor crime, officers have been trained to use their professional judgement based on their discretion, policing experience and skills to resolve the incident.

This alternative to the normal system, based on arrest and charge of an offender, is a restorative disposal.

To find out more about restorative justice and what it means in your community, please contact your local Safer Neighbourhood policing team on 0345 123 33 33 or email longeaton.neighbourhoods@derbyshire.pnn.police.uk.

You can also log on to www.derbyshire.police.uk to find out more about Safer Neighbourhoods across the county