Safer Communities Partnership places high priority on targeted preventative work with young people at risk of offending. A Youth Crime Prevention Team (M Power) was established in September 2003.

This was as a result of a number of factors. Historically requests had been made to the Youth Offending Team to carry out reventative work with young people. This was difficult to deliver as priority was given to the statuary work. Parents of these young people were also reluctant to engage with the service due the youth offending label.

The split from the Youth Offending team was therefore a deliberate one. Extensive consultation carried out by the Youth Offending Team, with young people, parents, statutory and voluntary partners and the local community, also consistently identified that there was not enough youth crime prevention work being delivered in the borough.

Finally, Redridge took account of the fact that research has shown that targeted preventative work with young people at risk of offending works. In 2006, Redbridge received new money from the Youth Justice Board to deliver additional targeted preventative work with young people. Through consultation with partner agencies, Redbridge Safer Communities Partnership Group made the decision to establish a Youth Inclusion Programme in the Borough. Decisions were also made to place the new in-house Mentoring Project and the hub of the Young People's Substance Misuse Virtual Team (Fusion) together with the Youth Crime Prevention Team. These four teams now sit next to one another in the Youth Crime Prevention Service. The Youth Crime Prevention Service Manager post is now funded from mainstream council funding, a further indication of Redbridge's commitment to targeted prevention work.