Police are to be given an extra £30m to target “hotspots” in a bid to crack down on murder, knife crime and other serious offences.
Senior police officers have warned that they have seen violent crimes continue even during lockdown.
Home secretary Priti Patel said that when it came to gangs and serious violence “we must … tackle underlying causes. That is why we are investing in new early intervention programmes to stop young people committing these crimes in the first place.”
This will include programmes which try to intervene in significant moments in the lives of young people, such as when they enter police custody or hospital.
Some of the money will also be spent in parts of England and Wales most affected, and where police have seized over 100,000 weapons in the last two years.
The funding comes ahead of the introduction of a new major criminal justice bill, which will, among other things, give police new stop and search powers to tackle known carriers of knives and other weapons.
It will also place a duty on public sector bodies, including the police and NHS agencies, to take a joined-up approach to reducing serious violence.
Ms Patel said she was “determined to cut crime” and make the country’s streets safer.
Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Sebire, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s work on serious violent crime, welcomed the money and said tackling the problem was a priority for forces.
She added: “Even during the pandemic we have seen serious street-based violence continue and particularly violence involving young people as both victims and perpetrators.”
The forces to receive a share of the £30m funding are made up of the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Northumbria, Thames Valley, Lancashire, Essex, Avon and Somerset, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, Sussex, Hampshire, and South Wales.
