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Home Office Press Release23 February 2009
120 children were safely returned to their homes after being found unsupervised on thestreets late on Friday night as part of a wide-ranging police operation.Police and Children’s Services in 27 areas of England ran Operation Staysafe patrolsover the weekend weekend. The operation was part of a coordinated effort to protectvulnerable children and to reassure the public that they are dealing with issues of localconcern.It identified young people who were out late at night, and who were at risk of becomingvictims of crime, or of being drawn into criminal behaviour, and took themto a place of safety. They were then returned to their parents, carers or guardians.Follow-up actions may now be put in place by the authorities to stop problembehaviour fromrecurring.On Friday night more than 1000 young people were engaged with, of those 120children were returned to their homes, and 103 referrals were made to other servicesincluding Family Support Teams, Parenting Programmes and Alcohol AwarenessProjects.
The Home Secretary's statement
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said,
'Most parents would be horrified to receive a knock on the door from police returning their child to them. But there are too many who think it is acceptable to allow their child to stay out late where they may be vulnerable to becoming victims of crime or committing crime.'Operation Staysafe protects at-risk children and provides a reassuring police presence on the streets. This weekend’s activity highlights the important work that  police and children’s services are doing week in week out to help keep children safeand to intervene to address root causes before they have time to develop into moreserious problems.'I want to send the clear message to parents that not knowing where your child is at night, or allowing them to stay out late on their own, is unacceptable, and I want toreassure communities that we are working to keep children safe from harm and tackleyouth crime and disorder head on.' 
Background of Operation Staysafe
Operation Staysafe is a key part of the £100mcross-government Youth Crime ActionPlan launched in July 2008. (download below)It originated in Merseyside as part of Merseyside Police’s approach to tackling andpreventing youth crime in the city.Between May 2007 and September 2008 in Merseyside:614 young people were removed to a place of safety614 parents or guardians were engaged with45 referrals were made to family or parenting interventionsIn November and December 2008, 11 local areas included Operation Stay Safe as partof the early roll out of the Youth Crime Action Plan.Fromthose:107 Staysafe operations took place244 young people were removed to a place of safetyTackling anti-socialbehaviour is mosteffective when agencieswork in partnership
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Operation Staysafe Weekend: do youknow where your child is?
 
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54 referrals were made to family or parenting interventions
Children's Secretary's statement
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said.
'Operation Staysafe helps children, young people and their parents understand therisks of children and young people being out unsupervised at night. This weekend, the police and children’s services were there to protect the children found wandering thestreets, but that won't always be the case.'Parents need to think carefully about their responsibilities towards their children and how they can avoid their child becoming a victim of crime or being involved in anti-social behaviour. Working together, local communities and the services that support them can ensure that all our children lead safe and successful lives.' 
Justice Secretary's statement
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said,
'For those who persistently commit crime or cause fear on our streets we need toensure that we have tough penalties and punishments. However our primary aim must be to prevent children and young people from situations where they are likely tocommit a crime or become a victim of crime.'As we have seen this weekend Operation Staysafe patrols are an effective way of  protecting vulnerable children and local communities and of reminding parents of their responsibilities.' 
Association of Chief Police Officers' statement
Deputy Chief Constable Merseyside Police and ACPO lead for youth crime, BernardLawson, said
'It is pleasing to see so many police forces and support services participated inOperation Staysafe this weekend. Young people are often given a bad reputation - but the reality is that just 5% are responsible for the crime that tarnishes the reputation of the rest.'Despite the fact that many young people have never offended, youth crime and anti-social behaviour are major sources of public concern to neighbourhoods.'Importantly, Operation Staysafe allows the early intervention by police and support services with young people to prevent those youths becoming involved in criminal activity or becoming victims of crime themselves. It can help to identify reasons for theyoung person being on the street late at night and intervene where necessary to protect our most vulnerable.' 
Notes to editors
The 27 areas that are taking part in Operation Staysafe weekend are Bournemouth,Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Camden, Croydon, Darlington, Halton, Hartlepool, Kingstonupon Hull, Knowsley, Lancashire, Leeds, Liverpool North Lincolnshire, Peterborough,Plymouth, Rotherham, Sandwell, Slough, Southampton, South Tyneside, Southend, St.Helens, Tameside, Torbay and Wigan. 26 of the 27 areas (except Bradford) ranoperations on Friday night.The number of children safely returned to their homes was supplied by 22 of the 26Staysafe areas fromtheir operational records for 20 February 2009. Bournemouth,Camden, Darlington and Plymouth have yet to provide information.
Numbers from the operation
Young people engaged by the police:East - 135Yorkshire and Humberside - 184Northeast - 127London and the Southeast - 117Southwest - 37Northwest - 553West Midlands - 98Total: 1251Young people taken to the place of safety:East - 2Yorkshire and Humberside - 14Northeast - 16London and the Southeast - 7Southwest - 17Northwest - 64West Midlands - 0Total: 120Number of parents engaged:East -22
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Yorkshire and Humberside - 33Northeast - 14London and the Southeast - 10Southwest - 3Northwest - 76West Midlands - 0Total: 138Number referred to other services:East - 15Yorkshire and Humberside - 24Northeast - 16London and the Southeast - 8Southwest - 2Northwest - 36West Midlands - 0Total: 103Note: Young people engaged by police means that a young person was spoken to or stop checked but was not deemed at significant risk of harmand therefore was notremoved to the place of safety.The types of behaviour that led to young people being taken to the place of safetyinclude:possession of alcohol or heavily intoxicateddrug usebeing out late at night with nowhere to stay for the nightlarge group behaving anti-sociallyout far too late without an adult
Case study from Friday's operation
In one area in the North West a total of seven young people were removed to the placeof safety. This included:Two females aged 16 and 17 found under railway arches intoxicated andvulnerable. They had been approached by males who it was later discovered hadoffered themdrugs.One female aged 17 who had consumed half a bottle of vodka.Two females aged 14 and 15 in an inebriated state.Two females aged 16 found drunk and in the company of a 19 year old male. All seven were offered voluntary referral to council drugs and alcohol services andwere checked on the police and Social Services databases. Parents (including onefoster carer) of all seven came to the place of safety to pick themup and wereinterviewed both privately and with their children by Social Services staff.Information as given to all seven about available positive activities, and referrals weremade automatically to the Youth Offending Service. Although all actions taken will berecorded on the Children’s Social Services system, one young person was of particular concern and her family will be subject to more intensive work after Social Serviceshave discussed the case on Monday morning.
More notes about the operation
Merseyside Police supplied operational information on removals, engagement andinterventions in their areas for the period July to September 2008. The 11 local deliveryareas who participated in November and December 2008 were Torbay, Peterborough,Lancashire Liverpool, South Tyneside, Croydon, St Helens, Kingston-upon Hull,Knowsley, Brighton and Hove and Plymouth and they supplied operational informationfromtheir areas to formaggregate totals for this period.Operation Stay Safe is part of the intensive package of measures being deliveredthrough the Youth Crime Action Plan in 69 priority areas across the country. FromApril2009 all 69 Youth Crime Action Plan priority areas will be delivering Operation Stay Safe.This project is based on the successful schemes in Liverpool and Preston. You canwatch a video of Operation Staysafe on the
Home Office Youtube channel (newwindow)
.Children and young people on the streets unsupervised late at night can be a risk tothemselves and to others and the public is understandably concerned about theissues.Staysafe teams will deal promptly and robustly with these groups by getting themoff the streets and taking themto a 'place of safety', where the young person is assessedby local services and their parents are then contacted.The approach provides the opportunity to identify any underlying reasons why theyoung person is out late at night before these issues escalate into more serious criminalbehaviour, or result in serious harmbeing caused to the young person.The Youth Crime Action Plan (download below) was published in July 2008 and backed
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