We have become aware of concerns understandably raised by several people in the community regarding the status of a small number of our staff/volunteer team.
We had been unable to respond to those concerns until such time as consultations with our external partner agencies and the individuals involved were undertaken; those consultations have now been concluded.
Crest, as a people focused charity, has a proud history of working with statutory bodies and community support organisations to provide, without prejudice, volunteering, training and employment opportunities to members of the community who, for a wide range of reasons, are most at risk of social and/or economic exclusion. This work includes a 20 year partnership working with the justice sector and numerous other statutory bodies to support and rehabilitate low risk offenders, many of whom have gone on to transform their lives and contribute positively to their community.
We wish to reassure concerned community members that Crest continually works closely with our external partners to ensure mitigation of any potential risk to public safety is of paramount importance and managed rigorously. In this regard, due to legal constraints, Crest is provided with little information regarding specific offence details of the individuals; Crest therefore relies on the judgement and guidance of referring agency partners to ensure that all offenders engaged by Crest are deemed by the justice services to pose minimal risk to public safety.
The opportunity Crest affords all offenders, ensuring appropriate supervision, support and, most importantly, attendance monitoring for several days per week is designed to provide ongoing reassurance to the community. Without Crest’s commitment to supporting the justice system, the whereabouts of the individuals being supervised would likely be less certain. Therefore, Crest’s work contributes significantly to the responsible rehabilitation of offenders being reintegrated into the community, underpinning public safety.
Following our consultation process, the individuals concerned have volunteered to vacate their voluntary and employed positions at Crest with immediate effect. These decisions have been made to protect Crest staff from further unwarranted online and verbal abuse (subject of an ongoing police investigation) and restore any erosion of public confidence; in addition, we are now, regrettably, unable to ensure the safety of the individuals involved.
We will not be making further comments on this matter; any ongoing concerns that people have regarding the individuals concerned should be addressed to the appropriate statutory authorities.
Crest will continue to be proactive in working with external partners and agencies to find solutions to the many challenging social issues affecting our communities.
Lastly, we wish to extend our gratitude to those who took time to send messages of support for the valuable work Crest undertakes in the community.
The Crest Senior Management Team.