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It outlines the local response of the two Local Authority areas of Wiltshire and Swindon to the Serious Violence Duty, and our efforts to reduce Serious Violence across the Wiltshire Police Force Area. The strategy is based on a systems approach which embeds the public health principles of long-term solutions.
Our overarching aim is to reduce serious violence incidents in the Wiltshire Police Force Area and enable people to access help and support. This increases resilience, promotes better life choices, makes best use of the resources available, and empowers residents to take more ownership of their neighbourhoods.
Since the publication of the UK Government’s Serious Violence Strategy in 2018, an ambitious set of programmes has been delivered nationally to tackle serious violence across England and Wales. To reinforce this work, the Serious Violence Duty was introduced through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2022 and came into effect on 31 January 2023.
Although, overall crime rates in Wiltshire and Swindon are well below the national and regional average the Serious Violence Duty places a legal obligation on specific organisations – police, local government, integrated health boards, youth justice service, probation services and fire and rescue authorities - to plan and collaborate to prevent and reduce serious violence.
The PCSC Act creates powers for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to convene and assist the specified authorities in the exercise of their functions under the Duty and monitor their exercise of those functions. PCCs have a highly important role to play in convening partner agencies and are responsible for the totality of policing in their area.
■ Support the delivery of our obligations under the Serious Violence Duty, bringing together partners to take a public health approach to reducing and preventing violence in our communities, including knife crime and gang related violence.
■ Ensure that Wiltshire Police responses are trauma informed with a child-first approach taken.
■ Work with our Community Safety Partnerships in Wiltshire and Swindon to better understand the causes of serious harm so we can tackle the symptoms and consequences in a comprehensive manner, and to protect and prevent young and vulnerable people from harm caused through serious, organised, criminality.
■ Work with partners, mentoring schemes, charities and organisations which deter young people from carrying and using knives and divert protect young people away from crime.
■ Explore additional potential funding streams to support our existing obligations and actions under the Serious Violence Duty scheme and to work with local authorities and partners to take a public health approach to reducing serious violence in our communities.
■ Improve Wiltshire Police’s skills and training to improve preventative work and investigative standards to provide better victim care and increase action taken by the police.
■ Invest in and collaborate with community safety partners to tackle domestic abuse, ensuring we meet our obligations under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 such as implementing local plans to protect and support victims while holding offenders accountable.
■ Work with Wiltshire Police, Swindon Borough, Wiltshire Council, and town and parish councils to continue to expand our Safety at Night Charter. Together, we will invest in making public spaces safer and more secure for all residents, ensuring everyone feels safe after dark.
■ Raise awareness and enhance our response to victims of stalking and harassment, ensuring they receive the support and protection they need, while supporting bystanders to intervene effectively and safely, and tackle misogyny where it occurs.
■ Ensure specialist Violence Against Women and Girls victim services are in place to provide emotional, practical, and health support. This includes providing dedicated sexual violence advocates to guide victims through the criminal justice process.
■ Work with the Police across the south west region, to co-ordinate enforcement and eliminate the threat from serious organised criminals including tackling county lines and drug dealing, gang violence, modern slavery, and exploitation.
■ Work with the Police across the south west to maintain high levels of disruption to target organised crime networks and county lines through Operation Scorpion.
■ Work with our Community Safety Partnerships through a ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ approach to protect communities and prevent young and vulnerable people from harm caused through serious organised criminality.
■ Work with partners through the Combating Drugs Partnerships in Swindon and Wiltshire to disrupt drug supply chains and provide appropriate support and treatment for those affected by drugs, including those leaving prison.
Monday 31 March 2025
Tuesday 11 March 2025
Monday 17 February 2025
Monday 11 November 2024
Friday 4 October 2024
Friday 20 September 2024
Thursday 19 September 2024
Tuesday 23 July 2024
Thursday 18 July 2024
Wednesday 17 July 2024
Monday 1 July 2024
Monday 13 May 2024