Cleveland PCC promises more cash to combat violent crime
PCC Steve Turner launched a £500,000 fund for interventions to reduce violent crime at James Cook Hospital today
Cleveland's PCC has made 500 thousand pounds available to help drive down violent crime on Teesside.
It's for specialist interventions to be brought in across the police force area.
The fund will be open to community groups, social enterprises and non-profit organisations supporting people affected by, at risk of or those involved.
Steve Turner - who launched a specialist unit earlier this year - says it's having a big impact on A&E departments
It’s the first major announcement from the CURV partnership, which was established earlier this year after it was announced that Cleveland will receive £3.5m over the next three years for a violence reduction unit.
The fund has been launched as the latest national statistics show that violent crime is continuing to rise in the Cleveland area.
In comparison with the same period a year prior, between April 2021 and March 2022, the Cleveland area saw an increase of 15.7% in violent offences. This is in comparison to a national increase of 17.7%.
Per 1000 population, this means Cleveland has the third highest level of violent crime in England and Wales.
Cleveland has the highest level of knife crime in the country – with an increase of 14.1% per 100,000 population in the 12 months from March 2021.
Chair of the CURV partnership, PCC Steve Turner, said: “The crime statistics published today prove exactly why we need such a tough approach to tackling serious violence in Cleveland.
“For every violent crime that takes place, there is a ripple effect that impacts the victim and their families, the police, health services and the wider community.
“We must get ahead of this problem. It’s about creating safe spaces where at-risk individuals can be given to the tools to live a happy, positive life - rather than becoming involved in crime and using violence without a second thought.
“As our major first step, I’m delighted the CURV partnership is able to offer this significant amount of money to invest in services designed to address the root causes of violent crime.”
To mark the announcement, Steve visited the A&E department at James Cook University Hospital and met with staff from the Major Trauma team, to help understand the impact serious violence has on the NHS.
The CURV partnership is responsible for delivering a ‘whole system’, public health approach to tackling violence, bringing together key partners to identify the local drivers and root-causes of serious violence and agree and implement a multi-agency response to them.
It is made up of representatives from children services, adult services, Cleveland Police, public health and the voluntary/community sector.