YOUNG offenders could have minor crimes 'rolled-up' by the courts in a bid to turn their lives around.

Police Scotland are hoping to bring in the new strategy as part of the One Glasgow Reducing Offending programme in what would be a Scottish first.

Working alongside the likes of Glasgow City Council, the NHS and the Procurator Fiscal service, officers are hoping to help under-25s avoid a life of crime.

Under the roll up scheme, if a youngster had several, similar minor crimes to be dealt with, they would be dealt with for one offence and not brought back to face further court action for every single offence.

There has been a 15.2 per cent reduction in crimes committed by young people in the city since 2013.

Speaking at the Govan Area Partnership, Sergeant Caroline Harden, the project manager of the scheme, said: “One Glasgow are rolling out a ‘clean slate’ programme.

“We check warrants locally. If anyone in the community has got a minor warrant that can be rolled-up, we work with the Procurator Fiscal to do that. This allows them to get back into the community.

“There is nothing like this is Scotland. It’s predominantly focused on young people from 12-25. It includes those leaving Polmont Prison.

“We don’t want an increased number of referrals to the reporter. We want to keep young people out of the courts. All the evidence says this approach works.

“We can’t just arrest our way out of this. We need to tackle the needs of the young people whether that addiction, homelessness or any other issues.

“We are trying to reduce the amount of under-25s offending and trying to reduce the prison population.”

The One Glasgow Reducing Offending programme was an idea put forward by Glasgow Community Planning Partnership in 2011.

The idea was to have Police Scotland, the council, the NHS, Glasgow Housing Association and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service working alongside charities and the third sector.

Together the organisations are able to pool resources, eliminate duplication of services and create an overall service for the city.