Northern Ireland: Car-theft prevention pilot helps to reduce crime levels in Belfast

The multi-agency Inclusive Model of Partnership Against Car Theft (Impact) project started in 2001 and uses a mix of prevention, education and diversion work with repeat offenders, mostly aged 13 to 19.

Since its launch the 250,000 project, which is funded by the Northern Ireland Office until March 2006, has worked with 3,000 young people in schools and 190 repeat offenders.

Just over half of young people showed more positive attitudes after getting involved with Impact, according to an evaluation of the project. A study on its effectiveness with previous offenders is now in the pipeline.

Paul Millar, operational manager at Impact, said: "Joyriding, or car crime, has been a growing problem for years. A third of all cars stolen in Northern Ireland were recovered in west Belfast and many young people involved were from this area too. It's a subculture to steal cars, especially among boys, but in the past 25 years there have been about 50 fatalities in west Belfast caused by car crime."