In April 2022, Cleveland’s OPCC was notified of its successful application for Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)
Funding from the Home Office over a three-year period. This resulted in the establishment of the `Cleveland Unit for the Reduction of Violence’ (CURV).
A reduction of knife/weapon enabled offences and hospital admissions is a key priority for CURV.
All interventions commissioned, funded or partnered by CURV seek to help reduce these figures which currently account for 22% of all serious violences offences across Cleveland. As part of this priority, CURV has routinely funded interventions that directly engage with young people.
After funding a number of short-term interventions in its first year, CURV commissioned and match funded a number of partner interventions in 2023, which will continue to the end of March 2025 and will act as the partnership’s main pilots. Most of these will be evaluated to determine ‘what works’ and to demonstrate their effectiveness in contributing to the reduction of serious violence — including knife crime. However, with the natural conclusion of CURV’s main knife education pilot intervention, there will be a gap in the provision of any specific knife crime education programmes within CURV’s portfolio of funded interventions, and with the latest youth survey highlighting that 6% of young people indicate that they have carried a knife supported by previous analysis which highlights that this trend starts as early as primary school, there is a requirement to continue piloting such interventions.
The primary measures of success are for VRUs to deliver:
- A reduction in hospital admissions for assaults with a knife or sharp object and especially among victims aged under 25.
- A reduction in knife-enabled serious violence and especially among victims aged under
- A reduction on all non-domestic homicides and especially among victims aged under 25 involving knives.
Although violent offences involving knives or sharp instruments have reduced by 10% compared to the previous year, Cleveland ranks high among the top ten local areas for police recorded knife crime and hospital admissions for knife sharp object assault, so CURV will continue to fund activities that seek to reduce these metrics.
In June 2024 CURV launched a Community Knife Crime Education Fund, to enable local charitable or voluntary community sector organisations to access a one-off grant that works towards reducing knife crime amongst young people by delivering against the following outcomes:
- Helping young people understand the potential consequences of picking up a knife.
- Supporting young people to make better choices if they ever consider picking up a knife.
- Providing young people with tools on what to do if they know someone is carrying a knife.
Such interventions should:
- Effectively engage with the Under-24s but not excluding adults
- Steer young people away from serious violence, crime, or potential harm
As detailed in the funding application form, preference would be given to applicants that are able to prioritise delivery within catchment areas, which mirror Cleveland Police hotspot areas.
In addition, CURV also invited bids for projects that provide a ‘stand based’ knife crime reduction awareness session for year 6 pupils during Hartlepool’s `Crucial Crew’ programme that will run from the 7th — 18th October 2024.
Decision 2024/25 – 0002: CURV Community Knife Crime Education Fund (application, 196kB)