Young Drug Dealers offered free driving lessons.
Is this right ? I can see and understand the opening up of career opportunities, ...but 'driving lessons' ?
I did in fact think it was a joke when I first read it. More like a career in 'delivery service'... we'll pay !
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...XjtoSA4d2FZEAU
Young drug dealers are being offered career opportunities, boxing sessions and driving lessons in a bid to end the "revolving door" of reoffending.
Offenders are given training instead of facing court but participants suspected of crimes while on the scheme would be charged, police said.
The Call-In scheme has been launched as a pilot in Bristol.
The Home Office said operational decisions lay with chief constables but "we expect them to enforce the law".
Drug convictions in England and Wales dropped slightly in 2018 to 67,831 from 75,695 in 2017. They were at their highest in recent times in 2012 at more than 98,000 in a year.
Det Supt Gary Haskins said police wanted to "take a chance" with young dealers before they became one of these statistics.
He admitted there was a risk they could reoffend during the mandatory six-to-nine months but said it was a risk Avon and Somerset Police was willing to take.
Sessions offered during the Call-In scheme, which has funding from Bristol City Council, include non-contact boxing to look at fitness and anger management and a course with Street2Boardroom, which aims to help people to apply "the hustle" they have learned on the street to legitimate business.
Mr Haskins said the scheme also helped people to get the necessary paperwork and qualifications to work in the construction industry, provided driving lessons and if appropriate, English lessons.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "How police choose to pursue investigations is an operational decision for chief constables.
"We must prevent drug use in our communities and support people dependent on drugs through treatment and recovery."
The police told the BBC one person on the Call-In scheme had been removed and charged with dealing class A drugs. He will appear in Bristol Magistrates' Court in September.
Another has been removed after being found in possession of a weapon