New action plan launched to help young people escape serious violence.

Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has unveiled a new joint blueprint setting out how partners will work together to protect young people from being drawn into serious violence.

The Serious Violence Response Strategy 2024 has been agreed by members of the County Durham and Darlington Serious Violence Partnership.

The Partnership, supported by the County Durham and Darlington PCC, was created to oversee the implementation of the Government’s Serious Violence Duty. The Duty came into effect on 31st January 2023 and requires organisations to work together to reduce and prevent serious violence in their local areas.  

Tackling serious violence is a key priority for the PCC and she is already working closely with criminal justice partners to improve provision for young people to reduce their risk and vulnerability to knife crime and violence.

The Serious Violence Response Strategy 2024 formalises this work, providing leadership and driving action to ensure partners continue to work together to treat violence as a public health issue and successfully reduce the number of victims.

The Strategy identifies four core priorities for partners to focus on to increase the effectiveness of their work. These are:

• Prevention and Early Intervention – focusing on support for young people aged 18 and under involved in or at risk of being drawn into serious violence.

• Alcohol-related violence in the Night-Time Economy.

• Support for people aged 18-35 already involved in serious violence with a focus on men.

• Domestic abuse-related violence with a knife or sharp instrument (repeat domestic abuse perpetrators and victims).

The Partnership is dedicated to engaging communities and directly involving young people in the design of new measures and interventions to increase their effectiveness.

Commissioner Allen said: “We are fortunate to live in an area with a lower-than- average rate of serious violence. That said, serious violence still accounts for 13 per cent of all crime in the force area and every injury or fatality is one too many. We need to stand together until the risk is eradicated altogether.

“This is why it is imperative we work together, and more effectively, to design new pathways of support for young people to stop further unnecessary deaths and injuries on our streets.

“The Partnership has considerable knowledge and expertise at its fingertips, and we will exploit this wisdom to ensure that we take every conceivable action to protect young people and victims of domestic abuse in the future. This will be reinforced with strong and intelligence-driven enforcement to make our public spaces safer for all.”

The Partnership’s work will be driven by data and evidence courtesy of a multi-agency Serious Violence Duty Task and Finish Group.

The Group has already carried out a strategic needs assessment whose findings revealed serious violence costs County Durham and Darlington £131m a year - £208 per resident.

Richard Allen, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, said: “I am proud to be the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the County Durham and Darlington Serious Violence Prevention Partnership. This response strategy outlines how we as partners will tackle serious violence within our area. Whilst it is important to point out that we have a lower-than-average rate of serious violence, we must never rest on our laurels. The devastating impact on victims of serious violence can be significant and our approach will take a victim focus.”

The most prolific perpetrators of serious violence in the county are men under the age of 25 while under 25s accounted for the majority of victims. Meanwhile, alcohol remains a key influence in three out of 10 serious violence crimes while domestic-related serious violence crimes are responsible for four in 10 crimes.

The research also found most serious violence is concentrated in urban centres including Durham and Darlington Town Centres.

The Police and Crime Commissioner previously announced the availability of £500k of grants for charities, community groups and other providers in areas with high levels of violence to deliver support for those at risk or already involved.

For more information on the new strategy and the work underway visit: Serious Violence | Durham Police & Crime Commissioner (durham-pcc.gov.uk)

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