- Bedfordshire Police will benefit from a £1,934,987 investment as part of the Government’s £130 million boost to tackle the most devastating types of crime – including knife crime, gun crime and homicide.
- This ambitious funding programme comes as the Government announces Violence Reduction Units and ‘hotspot policing’ initiatives prevented 49,000 violent offences across England and Wales.
- The Government is putting measures in place to reach those at risk of violence early – helping to break the cycle of crime, putting the worst criminals behind bars.
South West Bedfordshire MP, Andrew Selous, has welcomed a £1,934,987 funding boost to Bedfordshire Police as part of the Government’s £130 million investment to tackle the most devastating types of crime – including knife crime, gun crime and homicide.
The Government also revealed that Violence Reduction Units and ‘hotspot policing’ initiatives prevented 49,000 violent offences across England and Wales, as it set out an ambitious funding programme to build on these efforts to tackle serious violence.
Set up in 2019, Violence Reduction Units are a pioneering initiative established in 18 areas across England and Wales, bringing together local partners in policing, education and health, and local government, to share information in order to identify vulnerable children and adults at risk, helping steer them away from a life of crime and violence.
Figures published in an evaluation of these Violence Reduction Units’ first 18 months of operation demonstrate the impacts they are having up and down the country, changing lives and reducing violent crime.
Areas that have rolled out Violence Reduction Units saw 8,000 fewer incidents of violence leading to injury and 41,000 fewer incidents without injury, compared with areas that didn’t. This has resulted in an estimated £385 million avoided in associated costs for victims and society.
Initiatives include ‘Weapons Down Gloves Up’ – engaging young people out of work through boxing, while partnering them with a civil engineering company to help them gain manufacturing qualifications. Elsewhere, a dedicated team of ‘Navigators’ worked across A&E departments and with Northwest Ambulance Service and local communities, helping young people recover after an experience of violence and prevent it happening again.
Commenting, Andrew Selous MP said:
“New figures reveal the success of our Violence Reduction Units – preventing 49,000 violent offences, saving lives and breaking the cycle of crime.
I am delighted that this Government will therefore be investing an additional £1,934,987 in Bedfordshire Police and the wider community, building on this success and diverting some of the most vulnerable away from a life of criminality – saving lives and preventing the most devastating crimes.
Along with the 20,000 new police officers being recruited across the country, this Government is building a safer Britain as we level up the country.”