Super Respect gets Government thumbs up

A ground-breaking carrot and stick scheme in Manchester to help keep young people out of crime has been such a success that it's been used by the Government to launch a major youth initiative.

The Youth Taskforce will be launching its regional action plan in East Manchester on Tuesday following the impressive results of "Super Respect."

The Action Plan sets out the role of the Youth Taskforce to ensure that young people enjoy their teenage years and make a successful transition to adult life.

Under Super Respect, Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police, working with the community and other partners, cracked down hard on anti social behaviour and low level criminality whilst providing a range of youth activities. The scheme ran for six months from 15 September 2007 in Clayton and Newton Heath. During that period anti social behaviour was down by 12%, criminal damage down 33%, theft from motor vehicles down 5%, firework incidents down 18% and juvenile arson down 20% compared to the same six months the year before.

Super Respect focused on robust policing of anti-social behaviour, disruption of large groups and confiscating alcohol. Any young people who were involved in alcohol misuse, under age drinking or public order offences were challenged in formal interviews with their parents in the days following the patrols.

At the same time Manchester Youth Service and services for young people from the voluntary sector provided a wide range of activities - sporting, musical, artistic and cultural events to keep youngsters off the streets, increase aspirations and help improve the image of young people in the community. Most of the activities took place on Friday and Saturday evenings and in the 6 months, over one thousand young people took part.

Greater Manchester Police and Manchester city council also identified the most challenging young people aged 8-19 in the area and helped them to access the most appropriate support.

Manchester City Council's deputy leader, Councillor Jim Battle said: "The joint approach of cracking down hard on anti social behaviour whilst offering young people alternative activities has been hugely successful. The achievements of "Super Respect" show how effective the council, police and other partners can be when they work together alongside the community."

Chief Inspector for North Manchester, Steve McFarlane, said: "The results from this six month initiative speak for themselves.  This was a fantastic team effort that has really paid off and made a massive difference to the youngsters in the area and the community as a whole."

Sally Wheatman, tel 0161 234 4045