Home Office brings together Police and Crime Commissioners at Tackling Crime Forum

5 Mar 2020 12:29 PM

Best practice methods for tackling serious violence will be discussed at the event.

Today (Thursday 5 March) the Policing Minister Kit Malthouse is hosting the Tackling Crime Forum, speaking to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) about how to tackle alcohol-related crime, county lines and serious violence.

The event will gather PCCs from across England and Wales to discuss best practice and how to improve their approach to tackling issues around serious violence, such as county lines and driving down homicide.

The event will also include external speakers such as Professor of Pyschiatry Keith Humphreys, Stanford University, Dr Laura Bainbridge, lecturer in Criminology, University of Leeds and Katy Bourne, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Kit Malthouse, Minister for Crime and Policing said:

The rise in serious violence is deeply concerning and we can only tackle it by working together and giving Police and Crime Commissioners the tools to reduce crime at a local level.

Today’s forum is an invaluable opportunity to explore new and innovative ways to address this issue and I look forward to seeing ideas develop into action.

Katy Bourne OBE, APCC Chair, said:

PCCs are completely committed to tackling serious violence, county lines and alcohol related violence and abuse.

Whilst we may have different approaches and successful models working across England and Wales, today’s forum is a welcome opportunity to learn more about what types of intervention and preventative measures work best, as we set a clear direction to reduce crime.

In addition, the Home Office today published its own research into the analysis and trends of homicides in England and Wales as an evidence base for discussions.

Trends and Drivers of Homicide looks at the long-term trends in homicides and the factors influencing these trends to better understand the recent rise in this type of crime and inform policy. The research draws on both international data and academic literature on drivers of homicide trends.

The report makes a number of findings, including that the increase in homicides has been driven partly by drug related cases and partly by terrorist incidents.

Recent homicide trends were also dominated by male-on-male cases, and England and Wales were found to have similar trends to most other developed nations.

The Tackling Crime Forum is just one way the government is taking action to tackle the rise in serious violence.

The Home Office has recently announced a package of new measures to tackle county lines, the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers over the next three years, the biggest increase in funding for policing in a decade and has made it easier for police to use stop and search powers to take weapons off our streets.