Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership

Brief Description

The Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership (CCRP) supports youth 12 – 24 years old who are involved in criminal activity or at risk of becoming involved in crime and/or gang activity. The social worker, in partnership with an RCMP officer, connects with youth that fit the criterion and support them to identify their strengths and goals for positive development. The youth is supported to strengthen their protective factors (such as problem solving, self-esteem, etc.) and to decrease their risk factors that contribute to problem behaviors and further crime involvement.

Goals

The main goals of the Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership program are to:

Prevent and Deter (Prevention):

• To increase the number and strength of the protective factors of youth who have been identified as being at risk of gang involvement or serious criminal involvement;
• To reduce/eliminate risk factors of these identified youth; and
• To decrease/prevent the number and severity of offences committed by the youth identified.

Catch and Convict (Intervention):

• The focus in this intervention is on those small numbers of youth in the community who are committing most of the crime and who pose the greatest risk to the community. There are 2 sub-goals with this intervention:
• RCMP Team Members: The goal is to monitor these youth’s activities, to hold them accountable to release and probation conditions, and when in breach or committing offences, to charge them; and
• Social Worker Team Member: The goal is to work with those serious habitual youth offenders who are interested in making some life changes. The Social Worker will engage with these youth (and their parents, where appropriate), to support their making changes.

Rehabilitate and Resettle (Recidivism Prevention):

• The focus of this intervention is to prevent recidivism. The goal is aimed at the youth who are incarcerated in a correctional facility and who will shortly be released back into our community.

Clientele

The appropriate clientele for the Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership are youth between the ages of 12 and 24 who are involved in criminal activity or at risk of becoming involved in crime and/or gang activity.

Core Components

The core components of the Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership are:

• Youth are supported by strengthening their protective factors, such as problem solving and self-esteem, and decreasing their risk factors that contribute to problem behaviours and further crime involvement; and
• Worker in partnership with an RCMP officer connects with youth that fit the criteria and supports them to identify their strengths and goals for positive development.

Implementation Information

Some of the critical elements for the implementation of this program or initiative include the following:

• Organizational requirements: Concern was raised with regards to staffing uncertainty due to the instability of funding sources. This project requires a social work and RCMP team to help intervene with youth.
• Partnerships: This project is a partnership between the RCMP and the Town of Chestermere Community Services Department.
• Training and technical assistance: Limited information on this topic.
• Risk assessment tools: Assessment tools from Resiliency Canada were used to measure risk factors that contribute to youth gangs and crime.
• Materials & resources: Limited information on this topic.

International Endorsements

The most recognized classification systems of evidence-based crime prevention programs have classified this program or initiative as follows:

• Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development: Not applicable.
• Crime Solutions/OJJDP Model Program Guide: Not applicable.
• SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices: Not applicable.
• Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy: Not applicable.

Gathering Canadian Knowledge

Canadian Implementation Sites

This project was first implemented in the town of Chestermere from May 2009 – June 2014. In this time, there were 51 participants: 32 youth, 19 adults (11 additional persons received consultation). Of which, 49% were voluntary clients and 51% were mandated to participate.

Main Findings from Canadian Outcome Evaluation Studies

No information available.

Cost Information

A social return on investment (SROI) has been conducted on the Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership program. The findings from this study have shown the following:

• The SROI ratio demonstrates a three-year breakdown of the amount of social value created for every dollar invested in the project. The Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership project has a return of $2.80 of social value creation per every dollar invested.

For more information, refer to the Alberta Community Crime Prevention Organizations’ (2015) publication.

References

Alberta Community Crime Prevention Organizations. (2015). Social Return on Investment (SROI) Case Study: Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership. Recipient of Safe Communities Innovation Fund, Government of Alberta.  Available from:  https://open.alberta.ca/publications/safe-communities-innovation-fund-pilot-project-executive-summaries

For more information on this program, contact:

Town of Chestermere
Tanya Galey
Telephone: (403) 207-7050
E-mail: tgaley@chestermere.ca