September VRP Director’s Blog

I would like to dedicate this blog to the ‘Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Plan’ draft priorities and consultation.

The Avon and Somerset Police Crime Commissioner, Clare Moody, is hosting six public forums across the region and a public survey to consult on your ideas as to how the police, communities and partners can work together to deliver against her Police and Crime Plan draft priorities.

These forums are open to anyone who wishes to attend. They will be held once a week from Thursday the 15^th of August to Wednesday the 16th of October 2024. There is also an online survey for you to submit your thoughts, which is running until 21^St October. Links to book your place at one of these forums and details of the online public survey are at the end of my blog.

The draft priorities were formed during the months of Clare’s campaigning. Clare had discussions with local people on their thoughts and expertise as to how the police and partners can deliver against those priorities. Below are three of the five priorities, which I believe link well with the Avon and Somerset VRPs current and future work:

Priority 1: Strengthen neighbourhood policing to provide a visible police presence, engage with communities, and tackle ASB

Neighbourhood policing is a visible police presence and opportunity for officers and staff to engage and build working relationships with the local community. This approach has been known to make a positive difference in preventing crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB).

The VRPs purpose is to create safer and more resilient communities for now and the generations to come, by reducing serious violent incidents across Avon and Somerset. Our VRPs fund a variety of interventions, including out of school provisions, which create safe space/s for young people, deterring them away from becoming involved in anti-social behaviour.

Priority 2: Reduce violent crime, with a specific focus on male violence against women and girls and knife crime.

Sadly, violent crimes can have a profound, long lasting and devastating impact on the victims, their families and local communities. Our VRP vision is to eliminate serious violence, protect the vulnerable and create safer communities, through the opportunities provided by the evolving Violence Reduction Partnership.

Our VRP is committed to educating young people on the dangers of knife crime in order to prevent and reduce incidents from happening. Many of the VRP spokes deliver a variety of knife crime prevention interventions both within schools and youth setting. These interventions range from universal knife crime awareness sessions, youth mentoring, developing creative campaigns with young people to providing first aid skills.  

Priority 3 – Prevent crime by working together with other organisations and the public to build safer communities

The VRP mission is to work collaboratively with partners, to understand and address the root causes of violence in Avon and Somerset, with a focus on education, prevention, and protection. By working together, we are able to understand the issues both locally and across Avon and Somerset, whilst building community reassurance and confidence.

In order to reduce and prevent future serious youth violence and protect our communities, we need to continue building on our work across the primary, secondary and higher education sectors. Including partner organisations who support those facing exclusion and/or not in education. Our VRPs support a variety of activities that function at all three levels.

Our partnership is committed to understanding and addressing the root causes of serious youth violence and delivering against the objectives set within Clare’s draft plan.

In order to develop an awareness of the local root causes and any broader circumstances that may place a young person at risk of serious youth violence, each VRP spoke partnership meets regularly to share expertise and data. The aforementioned data contributes to the overall picture of Avon and Somerset’s root causes and shapes the needs of individual spoke areas, which enables them to customise interventions.

I recognise that we still have some way to go in achieving the VRPs mission and vision in preventing, reducing, and stopping serious youth violence. I do however believe that we are on the right path and that collectively we can make a difference to local young people, their families, and communities.

I look forward to hearing your views and feedback as to how these priorities can be accomplished and would encourage you to provide your thoughts online or by attending one of the in-person consultation forums.

Many thanks for reading
Nat
ASVRP Director

Or participate online, by completing the public survey.

The survey is only six questions, allowing you to provide as much or as little detail as you would like.

Click here to complete the online form.