Published on Wednesday 31 January 2024
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s (BCP) Community Safety Partnership Strategy to tackle serious violent crime is being revealed in a report published today.
The BCP Serious Violence Strategy (2024-25) sets out how local organisations can work together to prevent and reduce serious violence.
The report, part of the government’s Serious Violence Duty legislation, asks local authorities and partners to assess serious violence in their area and create a strategy to reduce incidents and make communities, towns and streets safer.
Serious violence has a devastating impact on the lives of victims and families, instilling fear within communities.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council already works alongside Dorset Police, Integrated Care System (health), Dorset Fire and Rescue Service, Probation Services, other agencies, community groups and the voluntary sector in sharing a collective responsibility to address serious violence using a public health approach.
Partnership work has seen several initiatives including the recent Towns Team campaign, which launched over the summer of 2023, and focussed on increased partner visibility and patrols as part of a multi-agency approach to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in Bournemouth town centre.
The 2022-25 BCP Community Safety Partnership Strategy also highlights the significant work that is already underway to tackle the root causes of violent crime, exploitation, antisocial behaviour and violence against women and girls, using an evidence-based approach through partnership working.
This new duty will enable the council to build on the existing partnership work and look at how early intervention can have a greater impact in reducing the issues around serious violent crime.
Cllr Kieron Wilson, BCP Council Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said:
“Serious violent crime has a detrimental impact on our residents, businesses and visitors. Unfortunately, these incidents do occur on occasion, and we understand that these are a concern for our communities. Which is why our partnership approach is so important in not only identifying the issues that occur across our towns, but also in tackling these issues using our combined resources.
“We want all residents, businesses and visitors to feel safe across the conurbation. This strategy outlines our approach to addressing this, while identifying areas of concern and recognising that the work we undertake to prevent and reduce serious violent crime is ongoing and adaptable to fit the current trends as the landscape changes around us.”
The government is introducing this duty across the United Kingdom following an increase in violence over the last decade, with an increase in offences involving knives or sharp instruments (for example) of 84 percent between the year to June 2014 and the year to June 2020 in England and Wales.
Chief Superintendent Heather Dixey, BCP Local Police Area, and the Community Safety Partnership Chair said:
“We welcome this report and acknowledge the shared desire and drive to reduce incidents of serious violence. This is a key priority for Dorset Police and it is important that this work be carried out alongside our partners so that the best possible outcomes can be achieved.
“As Chair of the local Community Safety Partnership, it is vital to me that all agencies work together to prevent and reduce serious violent crime incidents through appropriate interventions, increased partner visibility and shared intelligence. It is essential that our communities continue to feel safe both in their homes and while out and about in our beautiful county.”
Statistics released by the Office of National Statistics in January 2024 show that Dorset remains the seventh safest place to live in England and Wales and partners share an ongoing commitment to reduce serious violent crime even further across the BCP area.
Cllr Wilson added:
“Our strong partnership ties have enhanced our working practices over the last few years, but there is still more to do to enable our communities to feel safe, and I welcome this legislation. We are committed to finding new ways of working, with future initiatives including an upcoming Knife Crime Awareness and Engagement Month in April and May.
“The outcomes from this strategy will reduce crime and make the BCP area a safer place for everyone.”
Find out more about the BCP Serious Violence Strategy (2024-25) here.
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Notes to Editors:
This strategy supports other strategies and plans, such as the BCP Community Safety Partnership Plan, BCP Tackling Domestic Abuse Strategy, BCP Corporate Strategy, Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy, Adults and Children Safeguarding Boards, and other pan-Dorset strategic partnerships.
The Dorset policing area statistic of being the seventh safest location in the UK comes when comparing the ‘all police recorded crime rate’ per policing area
Most of the serious violent crime in BCP is committed by adults but the duty allows us to focus on young people as part of a preventative model and to enable us to go ‘upstream’
BCP Council has a duty under the Children Act 1989 to resist any unnecessary criminalisation of young people, where this can be reasonably avoided, and a duty under the Serious Violence Duty to reduce the volume of serious violence offences.
The BCP ‘Keeping Our Young People Safe’ Conference took place on the 14 November, targeted at educators and people working with young people such as Youth Justice Service, Childrens Social Care and the Youth Service, focussing on practical measures that can be utilised to help keep young people as safe as possible. Approximately 130 people attended.
- There was no statistically significant change in public place recorded violent crime between 2021/2 (2,594 records) and 2022/3 (2,655 records), defying the national trend.
The BCP Community Safety Partnership recently presented its annual report to the Overview & Scrutiny Panel at BCP Council, highlighting a number of key achievements over the year including:
- There was no statistically significant change in public place recorded violent crime between 2021/2 (2,594 records) and 2022/3 (2,655 records), defying the national trend.
- a 7.6% reduction between the number of recorded domestic abuse violent crime incidents in 2022/3 compared to 2021/2
- a 5% reduction in the total number of recorded serious sexual offences when comparing 2022/3 (1,125) with 2021/2 (1,185).
- A 12% decrease in the total number of all ASB reported to the police, with 10,952 reported in 2022/3 compared to 12,440 in 2021/2