Hastings and Rother Persistent Offender Scheme (HARPOS)

Within Sussex an Intensive Supervision and Monitoring Scheme (ISM), sometimes called a
PPO scheme, covers several towns located close together: Hastings, Bexhill, St Leonards,
Battle and Rye. Police and probation staff started identifying cases for ISMs in September
2002, where the scheme could be added to their sentences, as part of their licence
conditions. Currently offenders on ISMS are supervised on community sentences or
conditional release (licences) from a custodial sentence.

Hastings have a small team (1 probation officer, 1 police officer, 1.5 probation service officers,
and 0.4 admin officers) which is co-located at Hastings Law Courts.

15 ISM schemes operate nationally and are funded by the HO. These schemes have been
evaluated and the results are due later this year.

ISMs provide a more intensive rehabilitation programme than currently offered under
community orders and licence conditions. Offenders are under a higher level of scrutiny and
supervision by the police and probation service than currently delivered and have an
accelerated access to services and support, non-compliance can result in a return to custody.

ISMs work by using a partnership between the Probation Board and the Police Service. They
also rely on other agencies to provide housing, education, employment and drug abuse
treatment. A key aspect of ISMs is that police use intelligence from the NIM (National
Intelligence Model) to help identify potential participants, detect breaches, and monitor the
progress of cases. Police intelligence also helps to direct precious resources where they are
needed most.

Main characteristics of ISM schemes are:

1. Minimum of 4 appointments per week for the first 3 months, including 1 weekly home visit.
2. Priority access to programmes and community integration activity.
3. Intense monitoring and surveillance (by police)
4. Part of a community or post custodial sentence