Grant of £3.5m to tackle a ‘concerning’ growth of violence in Hampshire – with a focus on how to prevent young people getting involved in crime

The police and crime commissioner for the area, Donna Jones, has been provisionally allocated the cash from the Home Office to be spent through the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – which brings together leaders in police, health and education, as well as health workers, local government and other organisations to address violent crime and its underlying causes.

Funds have been granted over a three-year period, with £1,414,226 for 2022/23.

Mrs Jones said: ‘I am very concerned about the growth of violence on our streets. I welcome the decision of the Home Office to provide three years of funding, giving us greater opportunities to find long term sustainable solutions and to build upon the initiatives that have been put in place.

‘When we look at the past experiences of young people who are committing knife crime a significant number have had a childhood that has included violence, drugs, alcohol abuse or other adverse experiences.

‘It is important that can identify and resolve these issues early on to prevent them from escalating. The VRU will continue to roll out its work on adverse childhood experiences which over the last year has seen 2,000 professionals trained in taking a trauma informed approach and seen an acclaimed conference and initial pilot of trauma informed policing delivered.’

Since it was set up in 2019 the VRU has also funded a number of localised early intervention projects that have worked with thousands of young people locally, many of whom were at risk of being drawn into serious violence or already showing violent behaviours.

Recently this includes a grant to The Park Community School, in Havant, to run weekly twilight workshops for young people from the Leigh Park estate on community safety including drugs and alcohol awareness, healthy relationships, the law, and mental health.

‘It is vital that we engage with young people as soon as we identify them as being vulnerable or at risk, and that support is available at key points,’ Mrs Jones added.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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