Strategy aims to tackle violence among young people

Gary Godden said giving young people chances to be creative "can have a real positive impact on their lives"

Early intervention will be part of a strategy to tackle violence among young people, Nottinghamshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has said.

Launching his four-year plan in Nottingham, Gary Godden said he wanted to get "further upstream" into the causes of crime.

Working with other agencies, Mr Godden said police would seek to support children facing challenging homes lives, struggling with mental health issues or facing exclusion from education.

The Police and Crime Plan - entitled A Safer Nottinghamshire For All - will also tackle violence against women and girls and anti-social behaviour, while enhancing neighbourhood policing and improving community cohesion, he said.

A recent spate of knife crime prompted a protest in Nottingham's Market Square

Mr Godden said he chose the Community Recording Studio (CRS) charity in St Ann's for the launch as it had a great reputation for supporting young people and giving them positive outlets such as film, video and music skills.

"Giving young people opportunities to take part in creative activities like the ones provided here at CRS can have a real positive impact on their lives," the PCC said.

The action plan is billed as multi-agency wraparound safeguarding, coordinated by the Violence Reduction Partnership.

It could be triggered if children are identified as being frequently missing from home, excluded from school or have a sudden involvement or swift escalation in crime.

Mr Godden said: "We have seen from recent events in the city centre that serious violence and knife crime can often involve young people, either as perpetrators or victims, so it is really important that we try to have an impact on young people's decision making as early as we can.

"We need to get further upstream and support young people with a child-first approach that recognises people have different support needs and brings together partner agencies including education, health, children's services, youth justice, police and community organisations like CRS."

He emphasised the police could not work "in isolation", but by working with partners could have a greater impact tackling issues like violence against women and girls, and serious violence and knife crime.

Trevor Rose said early intervention with children is important for their wellbeing

Trevor Rose, chief executive of CRS, said making an early start with young people to build their trust "is of the utmost importance".

"I believe 100% that the earlier the intervention the better the connection you can form with young people and the community, which means they trust us and we can support them and give them better opportunities," he said.

"Their awareness of what's going on is getting younger and younger.

"Young people are getting involved in situations that we don't want to hear about and we don't want to believe are even true.

"I think the responsibility for us - as a community, and as parents - is that young people need greater engagement, they need greater opportunities, and not at college age or university, they need them a lot younger.

"By hook or by crook, by word of mouth, by friends or association, by them even recognising us [in the street]... they need to trust, and they need to see why this is benefiting them."