A police chief has offered reassurance after a TV documentary exposed failings at a probation hostel where two offenders have absconded from.
The Maidstone district police commander Mark Mclellan attended a meeting of Maidstone council’s crime and disorder committee last night (Wednesday) where he was asked by Cllr Tom Cannon (Con) whether he had viewed the BBC Panorama programme.
In it, an undercover reporter had spent six weeks working with the probation service in Fleming House in Tonbridge Road.
During his time there, the reporter found drinks and drugs tests were not always carried out on the inmates and that they did not always check in as per the conditions of their release from prison.
Two offenders had absconded from the facility in that time.
Fleming House has 31 beds and is used for the rehabilitation of high-risk offenders, such as murderers, paedophiles and rapists, with offenders typically staying there for about three months after coming out of prison on early release.
Cllr Cannon said he was concerned that “there were some significant issues highighted”.
Chief Insp Mclellan responded: “The officers that deal with the offenders in that location do not fall under me.
“However, we do speak to them on a daily basis at our morning meetings. They tell us who’s coming in; who’s going out.
“That is then fed to the town centre team so that officers know exactly who’s there; what their criminal history is; why they are there; how long they are going to be there; if they have curfews or need to sign on.
“So it is very tight. We get lists of people - sometimes every day, if it changes.
“So from a policing point of view, we are tight.”
But the commander added: “When I watched (the programme) myself, there were some issues internally that we need to pick up with probation.
“We do speak to probation quite regularly, but we need to speak to them again.”
“That’s probably dropped off slightly recently, but we need to get back and speak to them to work out what they see as the problems and then, if we can help them, we will.”
He reassured the committee: “The managers at Fleming House are spoken to every day by the officers that deal with it. That’s not a uniformed presence for obvious reasons. It’s officers in plain clothes who go around and have a very good relationship with (the managers).
“If anything were awry, we would be the first to know.”
The documentary raised fears among the neighbours of the hostel who launched an online petition calling for the closure of Fleming House that was signed by 563 people.
Cllr Cannon said after the meeting: “It’s good to know that the police now have a sharper focus on Fleming House after the documentary.
“But I have been calling for the closure and the relocation of Fleming House since I was first elected in 2021.
“I continue to hold the view that it is totally inappropriate to have this facility in the town and so close to schools, residential homes and nurseries.”
“Principally it is the probation service that is responsible for the facility and it remains my view that the probation service should relocate the facility to a more remote location.
“Rehabilitation can occur there and there is naturally less risk to the general public if things go wrong.”
