YOUNG offenders in Darlington are to be tracked by a team of uniformed wardens.

Darlington Borough Council's wardens were among the first in the country to be given powers to impose fines for some crimes and to work closely with the police.

Now a special team of wardens will be keeping track of electronically tagged young offenders to ensure they are keeping curfews set by the courts.

The wardens will be working as part of the £2.7m Tees Valley Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP), which was set up earlier this year to tackle persistent young offenders.

The council's wardens will be used to monitor the times offenders leave and return to their homes.

They will also be involved in the voice verification scheme.

Under the scheme, a telephone call is made to the home address of the young offender at the time they should be at home.

A computer check is then made of the offender's voice to ensure he or she is adhering to the curfew.

Presently, there are three young offenders in Darlington who have been placed on the new scheme by the courts.

The young people have all been tagged and must comply with an 8pm to 8am curfew.

If they are caught breaking the curfew by the wardens, they will be returned to court for re-sentencing.

Councillor Bill Dixon, Darlington council's cabinet member for social services, said: "The specialist wardens are trained to deal with young offenders and they will be making sure that all offenders on the scheme comply with their curfew orders.

"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 of educational supervision."

Darlington's warden scheme has been held up as a national example of good practice, with representatives of London's Metropolitan Police visiting the town to see how the successful initiative 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 impose fixed penalties for littering, dog fouling and illegal parking.