£100 million funding for police to tackle violent crime

A further £100 million funding will be made available to police forces in the worst affected areas in England and Wales for knife and violent crime.

The Chancellor announced in the Spring Statement today that this funding will ease policing pressures and will pay for police forces to have more officers available to respond to crime or patrol in communities.

The funding will also be invested in Violence Reduction Units, bringing together a range of agencies including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach in preventing knife crime altogether. The units will be based on models used in Glasgow where homicide rates fell by 54% from 2006/07 to 2015/16.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:

We know action is needed now to tackle knife crime which is blighting communities around the country. That’s why I’m announcing today that I’ve heard the calls from the police and the families affected by this devastating crime, and will make available an additional £100 million to spent over the course of the next year.

This money will be ringfenced to pay for increased police presence and patrolling to make our streets safer. But it will also go further in tackling the causes of this crime by investing in Violent Crime Reduction Units in worst affected areas.