SPECIAL wardens are to keep track of electronically tagged young offenders to ensure they are keeping to curfews set by the courts.

The Darlington Borough Council wardens will be working as part of the £2.7m Tees Valley Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, set up earlier this year to tackle persistent young offenders.

The wardens will be used to monitor the times offenders leave and return home. They will also be involved in the voice verification scheme under which a telephone call is made to the home of the young offender at the time they should be in.

A computer check is then made of the offender's voice to ensure they are keeping to their curfew. There are three young offenders in Darlington who have been placed, by the courts, on the new scheme. They have all been tagged and are on an 8pm until 8am curfew.

If they are caught breaking the curfew they will be taken back to court for re-sentencing.

Bill Dixon, the council's cabinet member for social services, said: "The scheme offers an alternative punishment to a custodial sentence and it is designed to offer fast track rigorous training, supervision, careers advice and programmes to tackle criminal activities.

"All young offenders on the scheme must receive a minimum of 25 hours educational supervision."

Darlington's warden scheme has been held up as a national example of good practice with the Metropolitan police in London visiting the town to find out how it works.

As well as increasing public safety and improving the quality of life in the town, Darlington's wardens are one of only four teams in the country to be allowed to hand out fixed penalties for littering, dog fouling and illegal parking.