Vitebsk police officers offer previously convicted individuals an "alternative"

August 3, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Vitebsk police are conducting the "Alternative" campaign, aimed at unemployed individuals with prior convictions, the Information and Public Relations Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. The main goal of the campaign is to eliminate the causes and conditions that contribute to the commission of crimes by citizens with prior convictions, as well as those sentenced to punishments not involving isolation from society. To achieve this, the tradition of holding open meetings of the internal affairs departments' and district internal affairs departments' supervisory commissions will be revived in all regions of the province. These meetings will involve heads of enterprises with vacancies, employees of labor, employment, and social protection departments, territorial centers for social services for the population, representatives of public organizations, and clergy. By joining forces, they will collectively try to help former offenders reintegrate into society and find employment. These issues cannot be resolved all at once, so the campaign will be conducted on an ongoing basis, the Internal Affairs Directorate emphasized. Another important task pursued by this event is the reduction of recidivism. Thus, in the first half of the current year, compared to the same period in 2009, the number of such crimes increased by 34.8% in the Vitebsk region. At the same time, the share of recidivism in the total number of all committed crimes was 49.2% (48.4% nationwide). 71% of such offenses were committed by unemployed individuals. -0-