Community Justice Glasgow Core Team
Tom Jackson, Head of Community Justice, Glasgow City Council
I have headed up Community Justice Services in Glasgow since 2012 initially as Chief Officer for the Glasgow Community Justice Authority, and following the national redesign of Community Justice (2017), as Head of Service for Glasgow City Council. Before this, I led the joint Health and Social Work Addiction Services in West Dunbartonshire for 7 years. This followed a range of community and prison posts, including work at HMP Manchester and with the Washington DC Correctional Service.
Since 2015 I have been Chair of the Board for the charity Street Cones, an arts based project run for and by people with lived experience of the justice system. I have been involved with the charity Braveheart Industries (trading as Street and Arrow), focussing on employability for people with convictions, since its inception and am currently the Chair of the Board.
For me, Community Justice is short-hand for effective and efficient justice through trust and collaboration across our diverse public and third sector system, which itself is derived from listening to the voice of the lived experience stakeholders.
MARGARET SMITH – Policy, Planning & Development Officer
Hi I’m Margaret one of the core team here at Community Justice Glasgow.
I have been working in Community Justice since the establishment of Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) in 2008. In 2015, I took up the Position of Policy, Planning and Performance Officer for the Glasgow CJA, followed in 2016 with a seconded role to support the further development of One Glasgow to better align with the wider community justice arrangements of the Glasgow CJA.
I now have a joint role cutting across both Community Justice Glasgow and One Glasgow – with the majority of my work focussing on the Engagement Strategy & Delivery, Health Improvement, Victims of Crime, Service User Voice, Alternatives to Prosecution and Custody, Youth (One Glasgow), Families, and Performance Management.
A day in my life at Community Justice Glasgow is like no other and I guess that speaks to the core of what Community Justice is all about. Our team here are not ‘Community Justice’ – our partners are, and the breadth of work and involvement with other people and organisations is what makes each day different.
I also hold the position of Chair of the Board of Trustees for The Croft, HMP Barlinnie’s Visitor Advice and Support Service. Through this work I am able influence and advocate for families impacted by imprisonment around a variety of issues such as financial inclusion, health and wellbeing, homelessness etc. and bring a focus for these families in the wider considerations of Community Justice planning and delivery.
More recently I have joined the Board of Trustees of Hope Connections which has been operating since early 2019. Hope Connections is focussed on developing a Living Hope Outreach Team, a Hope Connections Network, and Hope Connect Communities across Glasgow. Hope Connections exists to provide an additional horizontal layer that helps to join the dots and link up assets across the city, enabling more person-centred signposting, referrals and connections to be made for those in need, focussing their attention on the links between addiction, homeless and offending.
KAREN BAXTER, Policy Officer, Community Justice
I have worked in community justice since January 2016, when I took up the Policy Officer post to assist with the transition to the new model of Community Justice, and have continued working with the Community Justice Glasgow core team. Prior to this I worked in various roles in NHS Health Planning before moving on to Social Work Services in Renfrewshire and Glasgow, most recently working in addictions and homelessness service commissioning and contract management.
My role is varied, there are always new challenges and I enjoy working with so many different local and national partners. Working in partnership to see positive change is the most satisfying part of the role, and while this does not always happen as fast as I’d like, it is truly heartening to see partners work together to improve systems and services for people.
To me, community justice means getting the right support to people at the right times to prevent reoffending, helping to address the underlying issues that lead to offending, which in turn helps to reduce victimisation and improve our communities.
Lyn Pyper, Administration and Partnership Support
Hi there, I’m Lyn, I’ve worked with the Community Justice Glasgow (CJG) team for last 4 years. Previously I was in Committee Services for a number of years. My role in the team as Administration and Partnership Support Officer involves a broad range of duties, from admin assistance to the CJG team, diary co-ordination, arranging and clerking meetings to organising larger community events for the team, and providing assistance to wider partner organisations. During this time I’ve visited many Scottish Prison Service establishments, met a wonderful variety of people involved in the system, and had the opportunity to see a lot of ground breaking initiatives looking to resolve issues contributing to offending and enhance opportunities for individuals to reduce re-offending, maintain desistance and to overall improve their outcomes.
The role is varied, interesting and all in all keeps me very busy. Since working in the justice arena I realise there are many complex issues involved, in both factors contributing to an individual’s involvement in the Justice System and complexities in the structures, both statutory and third sector, in place to deal with all the different stages of this involvement.
Richard Hill – Seconded Data Analyst
I have worked as a Data Analyst for 10 years in a number of different fields. Initially working in Finance for Glasgow City Council, I began working for the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership in 2015, tasked with building the Performance Framework for the Single Outcome Agreement, building Neighbourhood profiles and disseminating the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Secondment into the Community Justice Glasgow team, began in 2019 with work on the ‘Improved Outcomes Post Liberation’ project, with a focus on securing tenancies, reducing homelessness and securing financial support from the Department of Work and Pensions; by progressing the work of the Scottish Governments SHORE standard.
I trained initially in programming in Visual Basic for Applications within Microsoft Excel, building reports within SAP and Business Objects, before being bit by an obsessive bug to progress Statistical analysis in programme languages R and Python.
One Glasgow Core Team
Michael Fletcher, T/Inspector, Police Scotland Preventions, Interventions & Partnerships & One Glasgow
I have been in the Police for 11 years and have had a variety of different roles covering response policing, community policing and organisational development.
I joined the One Glasgow team in 2018 and it quickly became evident to me that early intervention with young people is the most effective way to ensure better outcomes. This can only be achieved through partnership working and close links between the Public Sector, Private sector and 3rd party agencies.
The One Glasgow model ensures that information is shared between these groups to quickly identify and react to those who need additional support. I have seen countless young people who were on a dangerous trajectory and, through the hard work of our 3rd sector partners, have been diverted away from criminality and improved their lives and their families’ lives.
The One Glasgow team are constantly looking at ways in which we can further support our partners, the community and most importantly young people who need our help.
Alan Graham, Police Constable, Police Scotland & One Glasgow
I have been a Police Officer for 22 years and have spent most of my service working in a uniform operational environment. For the past 3 years I have been part of the One Glasgow Reducing Offending Unit. My day to day role within the department is to identify suitable young people, involved in offending behaviour, for intervention work from our partner organisations. I provide support to the partners during the young person’s involvement. My role is a very fulfilling one which I take great pride in. To see a young person, who has faced many challenges in life, reduce and ultimately cease offending is a great feeling. The work that I do, in conjunction with our partners, really helps to improve the lives of young people and their families across Glasgow.
Nanette Blair, Social Worker – One Glasgow and Glasgow City Council Intensive Services, Intensive Support and Monitoring Service (ISMS) and ISMS Alternative to Remand.
I have been a qualified Social Worker since 2003 and I was initially in the area team locality as a Youth Justice Social Worker. I moved to ISMS (Alternative to Remand) in 2009 to develop and provide a new service to the Courts as a direct alternative to custody with an intensive package of support to reduce risks and vulnerabilities for young people. This has been a beneficial service for young people to provide support in the community and create positive outcomes for the city’s most vulnerable children/young people. I have gained a wealth of knowledge from my involvement in the service and I have an informed understanding of the criminal justice system and the impact on young people.
I moved to One Glasgow in May 2016 to develop the links between One Glasgow and Social Work. The team has created a multi-agency partnership model that is aspired to by other local authorities which include strong links with statutory and third sector agencies. This has allowed us to be efficient and effective in our response to offending to create the best outcomes for young people. The timely response using data and information are crucial to identifying the right service at the right time to create change and support young people move on to a positive lifestyle.
I am very proud to be part of the One Glasgow Team and I am looking forward to the future development of the service to continue to support the city’s young people. However, the credit needs to go to the young people who work hard with services to make that change.
