Why do the Police Recruit People with Criminal Records? …
Quite simply because there is a talented pool of people who have criminal records and who also apply for work with the police.
Ex-offenders are discriminated against because of negative stereotyping, and it is not too difficult to deduct that there is real untapped potential among people with criminal records. The police see this day in and day out.
It is good recruitment practice for all employers to select the best candidate for the job and to risk assess the relevance of any convictions that the candidate has.
I doubt anybody can argue that the police are well placed to conduct such risk assessments and err very much on the side of caution (forgive the pun) when they decide to Recruit With Conviction. Recruiting in this way demonstrates just how inclusive the police have become in recent years, especially in light of all of the recent publicity. It also provides good value for the public purse!
There has never been a better time to recruit with conviction
There are a number of articles in the press today about the Ministry of Justice statistical bulletin which states that a third of benefit claimants have a criminal conviction in the last 10 years.
I don’t think that this statistic will surprise anyone working in the justice system but I do remember being chastised for taking a guess at this statistic a few years ago. At the time I suggested this very headline!
While it does create some very negative stereotyping of people on benefits, these statistics are a set of tools for policy-makers to address the difficulties that ex-offenders face in gaining honest employment.
Honest employment is the single most important factor in determining whether or not people re-offend. So while I am uncomfortable about the abuse of this statistic in stigmatising benefit claimants, I do welcome it.
The elephant is now well and truly in the room and there is now no excuse for not dealing with it.
Specific and specialist employability support must be available to deal with the barriers that a criminal record presents. But this support needs to be available for both employers and prospective employees. This approach was pioneered by Apex Scotland in 1998 in a project called Apex Scotland Employer Recruitment Training when over 1000 recruitment professionals in all sectors were trained to deal with criminal record disclosure.
There will also be calls for a re-assessment of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 which is long overdue. I’d suggest that part of the problem is the very title of the legislation because many employers falsely interpret “rehabilitation periods” as a minimum amount of time it takes before they can safely employ an individual rather than the point at which discrimination against the individual become illegal. Lets be honest and call it the Ex-Offender Equality Act 2012.
Beyond the problem with the title of the legislation, the periods of time before a conviction becomes spent are lengthy and often demoralising for job seekers who have otherwise turned their lives around.
Here’s some other stats from the report:
1 in 6 prison leavers were in p45 employment 2 years after being liberated.
1 in 3 people convicted of drugs offences were in p45 employment 1 month before their conviction.
4 in 10 people convicted of fraud or forgery were in p45 employment 1 month before their conviction.
While many people will be baulking at these statistics and the freedom they give to create negative headlines, I’m happy that we now have sound evidence to challenge policy makers and employers to do the right things for ex-offenders, and to support this untapped potential to realise their true potential and contribute to society in ways that they frequently really want to.
Employers can also benefit from new hard working and loyal additions to their workforce as well as contributing to wider social benefits if they overcome negative stereotypes in recruitment.
Great headline from “The Recruiter” they must be following a certain blog.
It’s also a great article and demonstrates Recruiting with Conviction to reach Untapped Potential. It really does work.
Quoting Denis Phillips from the Timpson Foundation.
…….. “All we are doing as a company is tapping into a recruitment source – we really struggle to get people.
There is the CSR [corporate and social responsibility] which we all have but at the end of the day we want the best person for the job and often we come across good people.”……….
I’m sure that Sue Ryder’s initial intentions were to contribute to a reduction in crime by employing people with criminal records and they truly deserve their award.
But they also got an unexpected bonus:
….34 offenders serving custodial sentences and 137 on probation or community sentences have volunteered in 30 of Sue Ryder’s shops. They have provided 825 volunteer hours a week, saving the charity nearly £260,000 – enough to cover the cost of five beds in one of its neurological care centres for a year…..
It’s also great that they are encouraging employers to take up training.
I was lucky enough to be involved in delivering ASERT Apex Scotland Employer Recruitment Training. Recruiters really benefit from understanding how to risk assess criminal record disclosure and it gives them confidence to make the right decision on whether or not to recruit the person with the criminal record.
Hopefully we will see more funding become available to deliver this sort of training.
#RecruitWithConviction is an enlightened philosophy which works all over the world.
There is an elite untapped resource of people with criminal records who have skills employers need but can’t find work because they are discriminated against.
Of course there are social benefits to society too but I’ll always argue that to recruit with conviction allows you to reach untapped potential and the comment presented below is typical of enlightened employers.
Division of Labor: Out of Prison, Out of Work | DCentric
……Curtin has had positive experiences with his staff; about half are former inmates. “They have a greater understanding of the value of a job,” he said……
Employing former prisoners might be counter-intuitive but it does make sense
…..
Davina Tanner is the General Manager of Chapelfield and devised the Custody and Community Project.
“For the Chapelfield Custody and Community Project to have been recognised as one of the top two work inclusion initiatives in the UK really is incredible,” says Davina. “It shows that innovative and impactful work inclusion projects can be delivered by any organisation of any size and recognises the hard work and commitment that everyone connected with the project, including our partner Norwich Prison, has put in. We have achieved very exciting results so far and the project is developing all the time. Importantly, we are engaging with lots of other local businesses that are now employing prisoners. It’s this engagement that will ensure the project is sustainable.”
Trevor Pereira, commercial director of Capital Shopping Centres said: “Taking a sustained approach to corporate responsibility, and integrating it into our business strategy, is pivotal to the way that every centre within Capital Shopping Centres operates. We know that we can’t build a successful business without constantly showing our commitment to being a better business.”….
“Our shopping centres are at the heart of their communities, and we are always looking for opportunities to provide positive benefits back into these communities. The Chapelfield team have really embraced this project, resulting in business benefits to the centre, real opportunities for prisoners and reduced crime for the community,” adds Trevor.
…..Pret has long given food and financial support to the homeless in the UK and we were looking for a new, innovative way to really break the cycle of homelessness once and for all. So, in an effort to help break that cycle, the Pret Foundation has set up an apprenticeship scheme. Named after our dear colleague who passed away – Simon Hargraves; there are now up to 30 places a year available for ex-offenders or homeless people to get a 3-month work placement in the Pret business…..
Marc Bolland, Chief Executive, Marks & Spencer; Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group; Matthew Davies, Chief Executive, Pets at Home; Steve Halliday, Chief Executive, National Grid; Ian Sarson, Group Managing Director, Compass Group UK and Ireland; James Reed, Chairman, Reed; Malcolm Walker, Chief Executive, Iceland Foods; James Timpson, Chief Executive, Timpson and Chair of the Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending
…Our experience shows that people from prison, if properly selected, will prove to be just as reliable as recruits who come from elsewhere. It is their personality that matters most. Within the prison population of 84,000 there is a large number of potential superstars who get ignored by employers because of their criminal record. It makes sense for UK companies to recruit these individuals and to make use of their skills and enthusiasm….
..he is actively encouraging his Virgin group of companies to employ people freshly released from prison, and even some who are still inside and working towards release. “Everybody deserves a second chance,“…
….”A lot of people end up in there [prison] because they’ve had a lot of bad luck in their lives.”…
…For the last two years, one of the UK’s wealthiest and most high-profile businessmen has been suggesting to the managing directors of hundreds of Virgin companies that they take on ex-offenders….
…He met representatives from Australian transport company Toll, which over the past decade has employed about 460 ex-prisoners, none of whom are known to have reoffended so far. Branson was deeply impressed. “As soon as I got back to England, I contacted the MDs of Virgin companies and said to them that we must do the same; to try to take on as many ex-convicts as possible,” he recalls….
…He adds: “I’ve had people at Virgin who have been caught stealing and I’ve given them a second chance. We had one kid who was taking albums sent to us by record companies and selling them to a secondhand record shop. By giving him a second chance he became one of the best employees we ever had.…
…”It’s about awareness, they [the government] have to make employers aware of the positives of taking on people who have been in prison.”…
