Over £130 million is being invested to tackle serious violent crime, including murder and knife crime, in the coming year. Of that Sussex Police will receive £514,500, as one of the 18 areas across England and Wales selected for targeted police action.
In addition to this funding, today’s announcement also provides £10 million to expand domestic abuse perpetrator programmes – working with offenders to help them change and prevent abuse happening in the first place, over £3 million to expand investigations into gang-related material on social media, £1.6 million towards piloting the Creating Opportunities Forum which helps provide access to employment opportunities for young people at risk of serious violence, and £1 million to set up and pilot new homicide reviews – helping to prevent future deaths.
The funding package comes ahead of the introduction of a major criminal justice Bill, which will give police new stop and search powers to tackle known knife and weapons carriers, place a duty on public sector bodies – including police, education and health agencies – to take a joined-up approach to address serious violence, and require local agencies to review the circumstances when a homicide takes place involving offensive weapons, such as knives.
This funding builds on the unprecedented work that this government is doing to tackle serious violence in our communities. With £105 million already invested in Violence Reduction Units – supporting over 100,000 young people, increasing police recruitment and our work to get dangerous weapons off the streets via Serious Violence Reduction Orders, we are delivering on our promise to keep the public safe by making our communities safer for the British public.
Gillian Keegan, Member of Parliament for Chichester welcomed the news saying, “I work closely with Jo Shiner the Chief Constable and our District Commander, Jon Carter and I know there is a significant amount of work ongoing across the county to tackle serious violent crime. Our force has been instrumental in large-scale inter-force operations to tackle serious crime such as county lines. This funding ensures Sussex Police have the tools and resources they need to continue to tackle violent crime and address its underlying causes in our community.”
Commenting, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “I am determined to cut crime and make our streets safer, which is why we are recruiting 20,000 more police officers, introducing new stop and search powers and giving the police the resources they need to go after the serious violent criminals causing misery in communities.
“But when it comes to gangs and serious violence, we must also tackle underlying causes. That is why we are investing in a new early intervention programme to stop young people committing these crimes in the first place.”
