Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones opens new funding initiative ‘to drive down knife crime’

The funding opportunity has been organised by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), a multi-agency approach that brings together local partners in policing, education, health and local government to identify and tackle the causes of violent crime.The funding bids can be either for the delivery of projects and interventions or the purchase of physical items, up to a maximum of £25,000, that targets people aged 25 years and under who are at risk of being drawn into - or who are already involved in – serious violence.

PCC Jones explained: ‘One of my top priorities as Commissioner is to prevent young people from committing crime, so I want to hear from expert providers who can really make a difference in reducing the impact and frequency of such serious violence within our communities.

‘We need to ensure that we all play our part in tackling the complex issues of violent crime and this grant funding allows the opportunity for those with innovative proposals to come forward and bolster our commitment to driving down knife crime and serious violence among young people.’

Last November, the Office of National Statistics revealed that the Hampshire Constabulary recorded 1,272 offences involving a knife or sharp object in the year to March 2022.

That was up a huge 88% from 676 the year prior.

It was also well up from pre-pandemic levels, with 762 offences logged in the year to March 2020.

The meant the rate of knife crimes stood at 64 per 100,000 people last year – below the national rate of 82 per 100,000.

In February of this year it was then revealed there were fewer sentences handed out for knife and offensive weapons crime in Hampshire in 2022.

Ministry of Justice figures showed 81 offenders in the county were given an immediate sentence in the year to September – accounting for 20% of knife crime offenders who went through the criminal justice system.

This was down on the proportion of offenders handed an immediate sentence in 2020-21 (24%), and below the proportion two years prior (32%).

Overall, about 26% of the 404 offenders in Hampshire who went through the criminal justice system were cautioned, 27% were given community sentences and 18% were suspended sentences.

Across England and Wales, nearly 19,400 knife and offensive weapon offences were formally dealt with

To apply for the funding, which will be from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024, visit the PCC’s website – hampshire-pcc.gov.ukApplicants are urged to read the ‘Guide to Applying for Funding’ document online thoroughly and to also complete the Safeguarding Checklist Form.The application window closes at 2pm on Wednesday, July 19.