Executive Summary
In April 2022, the Home Office notified Cleveland’s OPCC of its successful bid for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)
Funding from the Home Office helped to set up the Cleveland Unit for the Reduction of Violence(CURV.) It will run over three years.
CURV brings together partners and stakeholders to work on an intelligence-led strategy.
The strategy aims to reduce serious violence throughout Cleveland via a Public Health agenda.
Serious Violence Duty
In 2022, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act introduced the Serious Violence Duty.
It requires specified authorities to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence within a local government area.
As part of this work, CURV commissioned Crest Advisory to undertake a Strategic Needs Assessmen (SNA.)
The SNA outlined the scale, nature, and drivers of serious violence in Cleveland.
It revealed that the rate of serious violence offences are highest at weekends, particularly in the evening and early morning. This means rates potentially align with peaks in the night-time economy and geographical zones.
In response, the Cleveland strategy focusses on reducing incidents of serious violence within and around night-time economy (NTE) zones.
The interventions funded through the Serious Violence Duty are based on thorough consultation with key NTE stakeholders. They attended a series of workshops and forums facilitated and delivered by CURV during late 2023. The following interventions have been agreed with key partners:
Funding
Middlesbrough Borough Council awarded £11,780.00. This will support the reduction of serious violence in its defined NTE area. This includes:
- Bleed Cabinets to be installed within NTE boundaries. They will provide public access to medical supplies to control bleeding in an emergency situation.
- APEX Radios. They will support communication between licensed premises during NTE times.
Stockton Borough Council awarded £17,129.00. This will support the reduction of serious violence in the defined NTE area. This includes:
- Scannet. Access control machines will prevent entry to licensed premises by underage clients, clients with fake ID and those known for creating issues inside venues. Machines link to Pubwatch. This ensures effective information sharing and barring of problematic individuals throughout the Night-Time Economy Zone.
- Bleed Cabinets. Cabinets will be installed within NTE boundaries. They will provide public access to medical supplies to control bleeding in an emergency situation.
- APEX Radios. Radios support communication between licensed premises during NTE times.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council awarded £14,899.00. This will support the reduction of serious violence in the defined NTE area. This includes:
- APEX Radios. Radios will support communication between licensed premises during NTE times.
- Scannet. Access control machines on licensed premiseswill prevent entry to underage clients, customers with fake ID and those known to create issues in licensed venues. Machines link to Pubwatch. This ensures there is effective information sharing. Scannet also allows problematic individuals to be barred throughout the NTE Zone.
Hartlepool Borough Council awarded £12,580.00. This will support the reduction of serious violence in the defined NTE area. This includes:
- Bleed Cabinets and Installation. Cabinets will be installed within NTE boundaries. They will provide public access to medical supplies to control bleeding in an emergency situation.
- APEX Radios. Radios will support communication between licensed premises during NTE times.
Decision 2023/24 – 0029: Serious Violence Duty Funding (application, 214kB)