Preliminary Research

Before our meeting with Lou Everatt from the substance abuse sector of the Oxford Probation service, I did a bit of background research into how probation works and what services are provided. Oxford Probation forms one of five local delivery units that make up Thames Valley Probation, which incidentally became a Trust this April (inevitably meaning stricter control and targets imposed by central government amongst other things). About a year ago there were plans to merge offices in Oxford, Abingdon, Cowley and Banbury into one "mega-probation centre", which was met with huge resistance from the residents from the Mill Street area of Oxford. So much so that they set up WOCAMP: West Oxford Community Against Mega Probation... Centre.

I guess this showed how passionate the community felt against having a range of violent/non-violent/sexual offenders on their doorstep, which is perhaps understandable, and the smaller-than-proposed office has now relocated to a central location adjacent to the police station (which some would argue is a better suited spot). The general consensus was that yes, people were all for having a fantastic centralised probation service but just "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY), yeah? Of all the hype generated by WOCAMP, it appears that irrational fears were developing from myths such as perceived higher crime rates in areas adjacent to the probation centre, an exacerbated drug problem and architecturally, a "fortress-like mega-centre" to contain the aforementioned offenders, who would pillage and violate their way in and out of the neighbourhood, obviously.

This is perhaps an over-generalised perspective on the whole situation, but I feel the articles I've come across have given me an insight to get started on thinking about ways of challenging people's perception on Probation Centres and offenders.