Serious Violence Duty – Projects

Serious Violence Duty Programme Summary

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, (The Commissioner), together with statutory partners, is committed to a commissioning approach to support the SVD strategy, through investing in evidence-based initiatives at a local level, which aim to reduce serious violence and achieve positive outcomes for individuals and communities.

Projects/initiatives must support a pro-active, sustainable, outcomes focused approach to prevention, early intervention and diversion from serious violence, addressing risk of and / or (re)-offending, (re)-victimisation or priority community locations, using one of the following activity types:

• Universal Awareness Raising / Prevention / Education-based activity to young people
• Universal Awareness Raising / Prevention / Education-based activity to adults
• Training (professionals and / or community) activity
• Targeted Diversionary activity (non-sport)
• Targeted Diversionary activity (sport)
• Therapeutic activity
• Targeted Early Intervention Accommodation
• Targeted Early Intervention Education, Employment and Training
• Targeted Early Intervention Emotional Health
• Targeted Positive Relationship(s) activity
• Targeted Parenting Programme
• Targeted Community / Location activity
• Targeted Desistance activity to stop (re)offending
• Weapon amnesty

Why did you do that?

Halo – £29,710.00 – Countywide
Jan – Dec 2024

Project will scope, write, produce and launch a professional film featuring black and minoritised (BAME) victims of cultural harms. A North Yorkshire specific film that will be trauma informed about the serious hidden violence and abuse faced in black and minoritised communities by women and girl and is often misunderstood by many professionals. Project will be coproduced with local BAME women survivors aged up to 25 years who have faced cultural violence and abuse. Halo will work in partnership with the North Yorkshire and York Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) group to ensure the project aligns with the VAWG strategic approach and supports community engagement in priority areas.

She Was Walking Home

Next Door But One CIC – £24,855.00 – Countywide
Jan 24 – March 2025

Project will expand existing performance of 33 real-life testimonies of women living in York, with detailed follow-on workshops that explore language, behaviour, reporting and support, so that the impact is embedded and the young people and young adults are equipped with the tools needed. Script has been developed from the direct testimonies of women in York who have experienced harassment and abuse. The project will deliver 10 awareness raising performances and education-based workshops in 10 school/youth settings across York/North Yorkshire, identified in partnership, to ensure alignment with wider approaches, including VAWG. This will ensure targeted delivery to specific audiences and supports engagement in priority areas.to maximise reach. Project will engage a minimum of 700 young adults across York/North Yorkshire. Each setting will receive a performance, workshop and follow up engagement (recorded resource of the performance, workshop booklet and student conversation card).

Knife Drop Bin Roll-Out

Joint ownership between Community Safety Hub and North Yorkshire Police (NYP) – facilitated through North Yorkshire Police Partnership Hub. £15,151.52 – Countywide
Jan 24 – March 2025

The Knife Bin is an existing 12-month pilot project currently being delivered within Harrogate. The funding is to extend the initiative across York & North Yorkshire, to expand the targeted audience and reduce knife crime on a larger scale. Following the successful response from the current knife bin after receiving 453 in total since its installation in January, there is evidentially a requirement for knife bins to be widely accessible in more areas. The current gap in the delivery of this project is that the population outside of Harrogate are excluded from utilising the knife bin due to distance and travel. The Knife Drop Bin project aims to serve as a method of primary prevention and early intervention by reducing injuries and violence associated with knife related incidents and crime. It allows members of the public to properly dispose of knives, bladed articles, or sharp tools in a safe and anonymous way. The correct disposal of these items ensures they are kept out of circulation and ultimately prevents them from falling into criminal hands. The project will be delivered by Community Safety Hubs and North Yorkshire Police within their localities, and they will be responsible for finding a suitable location, carrying out community engagement/consultation and promotion, as well as the maintenance and emptying of the bin once installed.

Emergency Bleed Control Kits

North Yorkshire Council – £11,252.05 – Countywide

With funding from both the Community Fund and Serious Violence Duty Prevention and Intervention fund to maximise coverage, this project will fund the installation of 42 emergency bleed control kits throughout North Yorkshire and City of York. Currently there are no kits situated in the footprint of North Yorkshire, except in the City of York. These kits will add value to communities by providing specialist medical equipment to control catastrophic bleeds, predominantly aimed toward knife inflicted injuries but also other emergencies, such as car accidents. These kits aim to provide a form of tertiary prevention by managing an already inflicted injury – to reduce the chances of these injuries proving fatal whilst medical help arrives. This potentially life-saving equipment can be accessed by any member of the public by calling 999 and gaining the code, to utilise and increase the chances of survival to someone suffering from significant blood loss. This project would be an extension of the knife drop bin project. The knife bin initiative seeks to be a form of primary prevention by preventing knives from being used in the first instance and reducing knife-enabled crime. In conjunction the bleed control kits would aim to provide a layer of tertiary prevention, by mediating an already inflicted injury and reduce the harmful consequences. Medical equipment within the cabinets expires in May 2028. To ensure the longevity of this project the funding also incorporates the cost of replenishing the medical equipment inside the cabinets once they pass their expiration date.

North Yorkshire Hospice Care / Just B

Emotional Wellbeing Support for children and young people at alternative provision secondary schools – £32,488 – Hambleton, Richmondshire, Selby
April 2024 – March 2025

This project will enable the existing emotional wellbeing support service for vulnerable children and young people in alternative provision to be provided at two further identified secondary schools, with limited mental health provision. Service consists of one-to-one emotional wellbeing sessions through a dedicated support worker, using therapeutic, child-centred approaches. Service adopts an holistic approach to support, alongside parents/carers and school staff, including informal supervision for school staff. The project aims to aid children’s understanding of their reactions and support them to manage change and confrontation. Project will support 20 young people, working in partnership with the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership and North Yorkshire Police School Liaison Team to ensure a joined up, targeted approach to the project.

Inspire Youth Yorkshire (IYY)

Inspire Futures Harrogate District – £40,000.00 – Harrogate
Dec 23 – March 2025

Project will cover 4 elements of delivery; Community provision, Secondary school pop up / drop in, intervention and Primary School intervention through delivery at North Yorkshire Police Crucial Crew. Community based mobile project will aim to engage with 250 young people across 48-weeks of delivery, including school holidays as appropriate, 2 nights/week. Project will offer positive activities to engage in, being active or creative including informal education through a full programme of activities in relation to SVD prevention. Secondary school-based provision from the mobile youth base, initially to be introduced through school assemblies will offer weekly drop in over break and lunch at each school, to enable those that may not get access to community provision to access informal education on the topic of the week. This will be alongside a referral based rolling 8 sessions targeted group intervention providing more in depth tailored informal education on SVD topics, with flexibility to be responsive to local need. Primary school intervention will be delivered through NYP Crucial Crew to provide a rounded approach to staying safe, raising awareness to or exposure that emphasises on SVD and the provision in their community and potential secondary school. All elements of the project will run parallel to each other where possible and Inspire Youth will work in partnership with agencies to ensure a joined up, targeted approach to all elements of the project; planning, delivery (including identified locations for mobile provision and educational work) and onward referrals.

‘Liberty GIRLS’ (Growing, Inspiring, Resilient Leaders)

St Giles Trust – £39,922.09 – Scarborough
Jan 24 – March 2025

St Giles will take some of the learning from their existing Liberty Links project to test an approach of grassroots community engagement with young women and girls in Scarborough’s highest crime area, enhancing wider work including VAWG strategy, Female Whole Systems Approach, Clear Hold Build and Humber Coast and Vale project. There are large numbers of vulnerable young people who travel into Castle Ward on a regular basis, at risk of involvement in anti-social behaviour and crime. Twice weekly deployments will provide an on the ground presence that can engage with young girls and women in the area reducing their risk of involvement in crime whilst improving community safety overall. Team will work with individuals to address their personal support needs and with groups to co-produce solutions to the challenges the local community face. The intelligence that will drive deployment locations will be derived from the Scarborough Community Safety Hub and local partners and information disclosed whilst on deployment. Where a higher level of risk has been assessed, workers will offer individual support to that young person which may include support with disclosure, referral into services, assistance with benefits and housing claims. Project aims for 2400 engagements with 480 unique individuals during the life of the project. This will include speaking to young women and girls on the streets but also engaging with local business owners and concerned members of the public.

• LIBBY LINKS FLYER – APRIL 2024 (canva.com)

Operation Night Safe Selby

North Yorkshire Police – £38,895.04 – Selby
Dec 23 – Dec 2024

Operation Night Safe is a new initiative in Selby Town Centre with visible patrols alongside a safe space and help for anyone who is out in the Night-time Economy. The initiative will have visible staff in the form of Town Safety Officers, engaging with the public and focusing on early intervention and prevention. They will be focused on hot spot areas in Selby town which are of concern in relation to VAWG/Serious Assaults and Drug Misuse. They will have access to a safe place to take persons who require assistance and will be trained to signpost individuals to relevant key services if they require them or contact family or friends to assist them in a safe onward journey. This project aims to address the concerns around violence in the night-time economy in Selby town and violence against women and girls. The staff will engage with the public patrolling hotspot areas, provide a place of safety, and work with partners who can support the operation so that the right people deliver the right intervention at the right time. This initiative fills a gap identified through an Environmental Visual Audit which highlighted vulnerable areas in the town of alleyways, lack of CCTV covering those areas and a concentration of licensed premises which increases the risks of crime and disorder. Project will work in partnership with local statutory agencies and those businesses involved in the Night-Time Economy to ensure a joined up, targeted approach to project planning, delivery (including identified locations and times of operation) and onward referralsrs around vulnerability and to address the safer street concerns.

Operation Reach

North Yorkshire Police – £40,000.00 – York
Dec 23 – March 2025

Operation Reach will be designed to address the current lack of high visibility police presence in the Night Time Economy (NTE). Officers will provide a holistic approach to early intervention and prevention in the NTE addressing VAWG/Serious Assaults/Drug Misuse and engaging with the public by ensuring a visible presence in hotspot areas. This complements wider work being undertaken by City of York Council in relation to their alcohol behaviour change initiative, and the use of ‘micro-hotspots’ will also complement the planned environmental improvements. Planned deployments under Operation Reach will also coincide with known peaks in demand related to the NTE. The project seeks to focus on those who commit crime and the ethos is to prevent crime from happening in the first place. The operation will operate through a combination of plain clothes and uniformed officers patrolling together to detect and prevent potential offending from occurring in the night-time economy. It will consist of 20 x deployments over 12 months. The second phase of the operation is the launch of targeted social media campaigns which ask the public to ‘speak up’ if they see a crime taking place or behaviour that is suspicious and report it.

Snickleway Lighting Project

York Business Information District (BID) – £16,000.00 – York
Apr – Sep 2024

Project aims to improve and enhance main passageways / ‘snickleways’ in York to increase activity and support people to be and feel safe. Project will involve installing permanent lighting in eight of York’s major snickleways, aiming to prevent and deter criminal activity, improve appearance and public perception, and increase feelings of safety, particularly on dark nights. The project will also include an educational history-based project, in partnership with the Civic Trust. Project will work with Safer York Business Partnership to link with Operation Reach, to ensure a wider focus on violent crime and in partnership with Safer York Partnership, to ensure a joined up approach to identification and agreement of locations.

Inspire Youth Yorkshire (IYY)

York Youth Bus – £32,840.00 – York
April 2024 – March 2025

Project has been delivering community-based youth provision from the mobile youth base in target locations within York area, establishing positive relationships with young people and breaking down barriers. IYY want to add value by providing a more robust approach to Serious Violence Duty (SVD) prevention, combining provision and offering consistency within the communities, using learning to date and to have a more established presence and relationship in the locations. Community based youth provision, will be open access weekly over 54 weeks for 8–16-year-olds from the mobile youth base. Offering positive activities to engage in, being active or creative including informal education through a full programme of activities in relation to SVD prevention. Providing a recognised safe space that offers engagement opportunities with trusted adults and enables those young people to engage that are not in education to access this information or awareness. All elements of the project will run parallel to each other where possible and Inspire Youth will work in partnership with agencies to ensure a joined up, targeted approach to all elements of the project; planning, delivery (including identified locations for mobile provision and educational work) and onward referrals.