Police chiefs fight to keep cash to combat violence
- Published
Police chiefs are lobbying MPs to ensure vital Home Office cash that is used to combat violent crime across the West Midlands continue.
West Midlands Police (WMP) and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster said funding for the region’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) was due to end next year and they were still waiting for an update on whether it would continue.
The Home Office allocated £14.5m to the unit in 2022, spread over a three-year period.
In July, the West Midlands Police area recorded the highest rate of knife crime offences in England and Wales.
Mr Foster said he hoped to secure the future of the specialist Project Guardian Taskforce, which focuses on tackling knife crime and youth violence, which is also currently due to see funding come to an end next March.
'Should be going to work'
Wolverhampton councillor Zee Russell, a member of the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel, said she was concerned about the situation and called upon all local representatives to lobby MPs.
“That is a high priority for a lot of our residents," she said. "We all need to work and lobby for the reduction unit to be there.
“Because they are our young people. They shouldn’t be going in a box, they should be going out to work, so I want to make sure we are going to lobby for that and do right by our young people.”
The region has seen a string of violent incidents in recent years and previous Labour PCC David Jamieson said the unit would "stop crime before it starts".
WMP said that in the summer tackling serious youth violence was a "top priority" and its strategy had seen an increase in the number of arrests and charges for people carrying knives.
"At the moment, we are awaiting an update on the funding that will be available to ensure we will be able to continue the work of the violence reduction partnership in the West Midlands," Mr Foster said.
“That three year funding cycle comes to an end in March 2025 and we are taking every opportunity available to lobby MPs and do what we can at a national level in order to ensure that funding continues.
“It is absolutely a fundamental part of us being able to prevent and tackle serious youth violence and knife violence in the West Midlands that we have that funding in order to address prevention, early intervention, diversion and address the underlying causes."
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This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.
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