INDEPENDENT  IMPARTIAL  SUCCESSFUL

Police & Community Safety Mediation

Analysis of the last 5 years of NFS Mediation’s case load showed that 43% of neighbourhood cases had received some form of police involvement before being referred to mediation. The vast majority of these cases had been referred by Southampton City Council’s Housing Department under their mediation assessment partnership programme. The excellent success rate experienced by mediation assessment clearly showed that a great deal of police time and resources were potentially being saved as a result of the programme by reducing continuing conflict and the consequent calls for police assistance. It is estimated that this 43% represented in excess of 800 cases with prior police involvement that had been satisfactorily managed by NFS Mediation intervention over the period reviewed.

In July 2007 a pilot project was launched with the Western Division of Hampshire Constabulary for NFS Mediation to take on selected mediation cases. This provided an effective additional tool for the police in their ASB and low level neighbourhood nuisance strategies. The project started with a fairly narrow, defined list of types of cases which considered suitable and developed to include a wider range of situations and types of mediation intervention.

The project showed tremendous potential not only saving police time and resources, but also in helping those people and communities involved manage their disputes in a more positive and effective way.

Mediation has been tried in ASB and low level neighbourhood nuisances cases in many parts of the country with mixed results. However, the experience gained and techniques developed by NFS Mediation through our groundbreaking Mediation Assessment programme mean that we can bring a far more efficient and effective facility to the communities we serve in the Southampton, New Forest, Test Valley and Eastleigh areas.

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