Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has secured funding for 2021-2022 to continue Lancashire Violence Reduction Network’s work to tackle serious violence across the county.
Funding of £1.16m has been agreed, which is the same as for the previous two years.
Lancashire Violence Reduction Network is one of 18 violence reduction units across England and Wales which were launched two years ago to tackle the root causes of knife and violent crime.
Taking a public health approach, the network works with more than 20 partner agencies to support interventions including the DIVERT intervention programme, Emergency Department Navigators and projects working directly to support young people most at risk of being involved in violent crime.
Over the last year Lancashire Violence Reduction Network projects have directly supported 639 individuals and seen the introduction of seven new multi-agency programmes of work. Lancashire Violence Reduction Network has also led police enforcement activity around knife and violent crime including weapon sweeps, knife bins, and community engagement resulting in over 2,600 knives being taken off Lancashire streets since April 2020.
Det Ch Supt Sue Clarke, Head of Lancashire Violence Reduction Network said:
“The news that Lancashire is to benefit from a further year’s government funding to tackle the root causes of violence within the county is extremely welcome. We have embarked on an ambitious project which aims to reduce violent crime and the vulnerabilities of our young people by working with communities in tackling the underlying causes of serious violence.”
Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw said:
“I’m delighted to have secured funding to continue the important work of the Violence Reduction Network across Lancashire.
“I fully support the ‘public health’ approach to violent crime and it’s crucial that all parts of our society work together to tackle it head-on and make our communities safer.
“Working with individuals, diverting young people away from crime and getting knives and other weapons off our streets is exactly what we want to see and the VRN’s success in doing so over the past year shows exactly why it is crucial to continue this work.”
