Minutes:
Mr Mark Miller (Community Safety Team Leader) attended the meeting and gave a presentation on the establishment and operation of the Violence Reduction Unit.
He explained that in October, 2019 he had been seconded to the Unit which had been established by the Police and Crime Commissioner as a partnership between the Local Authority and the South Yorkshire Police. The Unit had been borne out of previous government initiatives aimed at reducing serious violence and knife crime. South Yorkshire Police and other key stakeholders had been allocated £1.6m from the Government to establish the Unit which had been based on a model originally piloted in Glasgow. It was hoped that early investment and intervention using a multi-agency approach could assist in tackling the root causes of violence and thereby prevent problems escalating.
A profile was being developed for each area which would set out the current position with regard to violent incidents as well as the key issues for that area. A draft had been prepared and would be launched shortly. From the profile, a strategy for violence reduction would be developed which would outline the actions to be taken by multiple agencies who were all to be asked to ‘buy in’ to the approach. Agencies to be involved included the Local Authority, Police, Fire as well as other providers/services including the Youth Offending Team, schools, the Crime Commissioning Team as well as the Health Service.
Members of the Area Council welcomed this approach and in response to questioning Mark Miller gave a brief outline of the type of work to be undertaken and particular mention was made to:-
· work with schools and early intervention proposals
· gun and knife crime, domestic violence, assault and drug related offences
· the ways in which Elected Members could refer issues identified within their community
· issues related to the night time economy and work being undertaken with bars, clubs and other venues
Mark Miller commented that the development of the strategy was an extensive piece of work which would include the views and concerns of local residents following a consultation exercise.
The Chair and Members of the Area Council thanked Mark Miller for his most informative presentation.