THAMES Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, has allocated nearly £2 million in funding to local organisations in a bid to tackle serious violence in the region.
Two separate grants, the Serious Violence Duty Grant and the Violence Reduction Unit Grant, have been provided by the Home Office.
Funds have been allocated with the aim of further countering serious violence and knife-related crime, both of which are falling in Thames Valley.
Around £210,000 to extend the delivery of the Operation Deter Youth programme for under 18’s to the end of March 2026.
Delivered by Youth Justice Services within every Thames Valley Police custody suite, it uses fast-tracked processes to increase the levels of engagement children have with youth justice services, breaking the cycle of offending, and improving future safeguarding opportunities by determining if they are being exploited.
£225,000 has been awarded to Thames Valley Police to deliver a focused deterrence programme through Harm Reduction Units.
These deal with high harm, habitual knife carriers, with police responses set to use a range of tactical options aimed at encourage people to change their behaviour.
£500,000 was ring-fenced to deliver ‘Focused Diversion’ activity to divert and support young people who are at risk of becoming involved in serious violence and support parents in recognising the signs and symptoms.
An offer of this funding was made to every upper tier council in Thames Valley and five out of nine councils have chosen to accept it.
Slough Borough Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Wokingham Borough Council, West Berkshire Council, and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead will receive £100,000 each to deliver the initiative.
£42,000 to each of the nine upper tier councils to build capacity in their local areas to coordinate efforts to tackle and prevent serious violence and deliver against the Serious Violence Duty.
Around £200,000 will also fund additional support via the Violence Prevention Partnership including a contextual training support package for young people, parents and professionals as well as work to embed community sport through StreetGames UK.
The remainder of the Home Office funding will be used to improve the sharing of information between partners to better support young people at risk and to evaluate the programmes to understand their impact in tackling and reducing serious violence in communities.
The Violence Prevention Partnership (VPP) is led by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner bringing together key partners from across Thames Valley including local authorities, health, education, policing, and third sector organisations.
Mr Barber said: “There is no single solution to preventing serious violence. Its impact on individuals and communities can be devastating and we continue to work collaboratively as part of the Violence Prevention Partnership to try to address root causes and support those most at risk.
“The funding awarded to partners across the Thames Valley aims to deliver against our shared goal to reduce violence in our communities and stop our young people being drawn into offending.
“Funding will extend the delivery of some existing projects as well as test new approaches. I am pleased that the majority of councils have accepted funding to implement new Focused Diversion activity for young people in their areas, the output and learning from which will be shared across the Thames Valley to help inform future activity.”
