MORE THAN £1.8 million will be spent on tackling the root causes of violence in the Thames Valley.
Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber welcomed confirmation from the Home Office the bids were successful.
Money will be used by the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to work with representatives from local authorities, education, health, youth offending, probation and prison services.
It aims to tackle serious violence at its earliest point.
More than £700,000 will also be used on targeted policing in specific hotspot areas.
Previously known as surge funding, it has been renamed the grip fund, and will
be used to run high visibility patrols, weapons sweeps and targeted police operations on specific streets.
Mr Barber said: “Tackling serious violence and knife crime remains a priority for the police, our partners and the communities we serve.
“This latest funding will allow it to continue to deliver early intervention and prevention programmes, while the additional resourcing for operational policing activity allows us to increase focused enforcement in those areas that are most at risk of serious violence.”
Deputy chief constable Jason Hogg, said: “Our officers and staff are committed to keeping all our communities in the Thames Valley safe and we continue to work closely with the Violence Reduction Unit to deliver the operational policing response.
“This latest funding further supports our work to bear down upon those small numbers of people who carry weapons, particularly young people, and to deliver a focused deterrent to those most at risk of offending.”
Stan Gilmour, the director of the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit said knife crime has been down 11% since launching the unit two years ago.
“This comes from working across all partners, not just policing, as together we seek to address the factors that cause violence in the first place,” he said.
“We are looking ahead, just a year to go until the Serious Violence Duty passes into law and we will use this latest funding to coordinate activity across local partners to ensure we are ready.”
