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Tackling Violence and Knife Crime

Over the past few weeks, I have highlighted some of the work taking place to reduce violent crime and knife crime in Dorset. From enforcement and intervention by Dorset Police, to the vital work being carried out by my Office, my focus is clear; prevention, education, and enforcement must go hand in hand to protect our communities. That’s why fighting violent crime and high harm is a key priority of my Police and Crime Plan for Dorset, ensuring we are robustly tackling the issues which lead to these serious offences.

Violence Reduction and Prevention

My Office’s Violence Reduction and Prevention Team is developing a strategy focused on addressing the local drivers of serious violence and identifying any gaps in current provision. This work forms a central part of my ambition to establish a Violence Reduction Unit in Dorset. Dorset is a safe place, and I am determined to ensure it remains so. Knife crime remains low: offences have decreased by 9% this year, and we are the fifth lowest county for knife crime nationally. But I want to be clear that this doesn’t mean we are complacent. Maintaining and reducing these levels even further is a key priority, which is why our focus on preventing violent and knife-related crime is so important.

Strong partnership working is vital to achieving this. I work closely with key agencies in delivering the Serious Violence Duty (SVD), ensuring partners meet all statutory requirements while also scrutinising spending and interventions. It has been encouraging to see the positive impact of initiatives funded through the SVD—success which has led to Dorset receiving its full funding allocation for the coming year.

The Voices of Young People

For me, listening to young people is a vital part of our work and I am very proud of the Youth Participation Strategy my Office is putting into action, placing young people at the heart of our work. I want to ensure children and young people’s experiences of serious violence and knife crime in Dorset are heard and their ideas on how to improve safety for all our communities are fully understood. This focus brings together key data and lived experience which helps us to invest in initiatives, keeping our communities safe.

Targeted Policing and Hotspot Patrols

Dorset Police has been carrying out focused hotspot patrols in areas most affected by violence. Called Op Track, this initiative uses real-time data to deploy officers where they’re needed most and has led to a fall in violence in key hotspot areas. Alongside this visible work by Neighbourhood Policing Teams, the Force is also focused on the link between youths carrying knives and child exploitation. Through targeted deterrence work and delivering powerful education in schools highlighting the risks of knife crime and violence to young people, I want to be very clear there is significant work taking place to ensure our area remains safe. You can read more from Dorset Police about this work here and here.

A New Project

As part of my ongoing commitment to tackle youth violence and prevent knife crime across Dorset, I have also helped to fund a new service which will ensure young people aged 11 to 25 who arrive at emergency departments — either as victims of crime or following incidents of violence — are offered immediate, specialist help.

This pilot project is being delivered by charity, No Limits and will see youth workers based in University Hospitals Dorset emergency departments, providing a combination of prevention, early intervention and crisis support to young people through a range of initiatives. The youth workers are trained to engage and support young people at ‘reachable, teachable moments’ — a time when they may be most open to accepting help and making positive changes. These youth workers are additions to the ED teams and therefore have the time to spend with young people, to focus entirely on the support they can offer. More information here

Tackling knife crime and serious violence requires a whole-system approach — with police, health, education, councils and the voluntary sector including local charitable organisations all working together for our communities. While Dorset’s rates of knife crime remain low, any incident is one too many. By investing early in our young people, building on what works, and listening to those with lived experience, we can keep Dorset safe and support young people to make positive choices.

I am proud of the progress we have made, but there is still more to do. Every young person we steer away from violence, every knife removed from our streets, and every life saved truly matters. Together, we can create a safer Dorset for everyone.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner

 

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