– Many say that it has been less crime overall in Telemark in the country. But we know that there are many issues that could be handled by us, but we can not for various reasons, says youth coordinator Mediation in Telemark, Magnus Bekkevold.
He says that there was violence, bullying / threats, pilfering and community conflicts that dominated the statistics last year. They handled 124 civil cases and 107 criminal cases.
– Of these, we had 53 cases of violence, petty larceny 28 cases, 23 cases involving violations / bullying and 26 local community affairs, as well as many theft cases.
– We also provide follow-up team for young offenders who have committed serious or repeated offenses. These issues are also part of the statistics, says Bekkevold, which is responsible for supervising teams.
Can take all issues
Asked whether there is any limit to the serious issues they may have, he answers quickly:
– There is really no limit to what issues we can mediate, as long as both parties to a conflict wants to take advantage of our offer. That is, attend a meeting with one of our brokers, speak out on the issue and be done with it, says Bekkevold, adding that they have handled many serious cases of violence over the years.
– The most serious violence cases are dealt course in court. However Mediation can be used before, during and after the main proceedings in these cases, he said.
His experience is that personal meetings often leads to accountability, understanding, and thus agreement between the parties. Be it an agreement on financial compensation, work to be performed or otherwise. Well over 90 percent of these reconciliation agreements entered into are held, according to the statistics.
It is mainly the police who refer cases to Mediation, but Chief Gro Jørgensen stated in PD last summer, it is also possible for people to apply directly to them, especially in cases of bullying.
can contact directly
– Just contact us. There may be cases from the school where the principal calling and asking if we can assist. There are also parents or young people themselves who call us. Then we can contact the other party, said Jorgensen.
Nationwide was brokered 7256 cases in Mediation in 2013 to 7920 years before.
– police may be better to use us
Labour brokers have the capacity to handle far more cases than today, according to Magnus Bekkevold, which police believe may be better to transfer the violence and conflict issues.
– We are entirely dependent on cases from the police, and prevention section at Grenland police are good at transferring cases involving youths under 18. But we also want far more cases involving persons between 18 and 100 years, said Youth Coordinator Mediation in Telemark.
– Lack of knowledge
He says that there are many cases they miss.
– It is probably due to both lack of knowledge among police about how to use Mediation, but also that the police in many cases not think of us, says Bekkevold.
There are more eager mediators who say they would like to have more problems.
– We get transferred very many cases involving conflicts here in the Grenland area, but the Telemark consists of 18 municipalities. Our agents are happy to take more cases occurring outside Grenland, says Bekkevold.
Since now both Mediation and police housed in the same building on Ant in Skien, he urges police to use them much more than today.
– There will be a win-win situation for both parties.
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