Young drug dealers offered driving lessons in bid to cut crime

Driving lessons are one option being considered

Young drug dealers are being offered education, apprenticeships, fitness training and driving lessons in a bid to prevent reoffending.

Avon and Somerset Police hope the pilot scheme, named the Call In, will provide a legal means of participants making money and cut violent crime.

Those taking part are chosen by a panel and must be aged between 16 and 21, without any convictions for sexual or violent offences.

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Participants are given the choice of going to court and facing a potential prison sentence, or accessing Call In services over a six-month period.

They are offered Bristol City Council's post-16 youth services, including education and training, assigned a mentor and given weekly fitness sessions.

The scheme, based on a project in America, is featured in a BBC News Channel documentary named Beyond The Frontline.

Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins, who runs the Call In scheme, told the BBC: "What I do see is an awful waste of talent, and bright young individuals that have turned to criminality.