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Last Updated: Monday, 19 July, 2004, 15:37 GMT 16:37 UK
At-a-glance: Crime plans
The government has published its five-year plan for tackling crime and other Home Office work. Here are the main points.

Crime targets

  • To cut offending by 15% by 2008 - the target agreed with the Treasury as part of last week's spending review

  • Overall, the Home Office needs to reduce the 5.9 million offences recorded in England and Wales in 2002-2003 by 885,000.

Community policing

  • Number of civilian community support officers to rise from 5,000 to 20,000 by 2008, alongside 138,000 full police officers

  • Extra officers to be funded through new neighbourhood policing fund, totalling �50m in the current financial year

  • Public to be able to call on police to use laws against nuisance behaviour - first, people can demand information, then call a meeting with the agencies and finally trigger action

  • Public to be able to trigger inspections of local police forces through gathering petitions

  • New nationwide number for non-emergency police calls to be created.

  • New police improvement agency to rationalise existing bodies - consultation paper to be produced.

Tackling offenders

  • Increase number of pilots from 10 to 50 for the "Together" scheme, where police, local councils and other agencies combine against anti-social behaviour such as nuisance neighbours, town centre disorder, fly-tipping and graffiti

  • The 50 worst offenders in each of the 50 areas will be named and targeted

  • Satellite tracking to be used to enforce exclusion areas, stopping sex offenders from going near schools, or keeping tabs on serial burglars.

  • Tagging also to be used for prolific lower level offenders as "prison without bars" option for courts

  • Use of electronic tagging to double so 18,000 people are tagged at any one time

  • By 2008, 1,000 drug-using criminals to be referred to community treatment each week.

Crime victims

  • New �36m unit to offer support to witnesses and the victims of crime

Anti-social behaviour

  • Fixed penalty notices to be extended to cover under-age drinking, lower level damage and theft, and misuse of fireworks

  • Expansion of youth inclusion programmes

Discrimination

  • Updated strategy on tackling racism to be produced

Terrorism and organised crime

  • Electronic surveillance at borders and ports to be improved in drive against terrorism and illegal immigration.

  • Every traveller entering or leaving the UK to have a photograph taken, which could be instantly compared with national and international suspect data bases
  • New Serious Organised Crime Agency with 5,000 experts



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