£190k to help the knife crime fight

Lincolnshire police have secured £190,000 from the Home Office to help reduce knife crime in the county.

Part of the grant made by the Home Office Homicide Prevention Fund will be used to provide specialist training for officers and staff. It will focus on tracking and deterring serious violent crime.

Training will also help identify and predict hot spots and those who are most likely to be impacted by serious violence.

“We will engage with vulnerable communities in Lincolnshire and work with the University of Lincoln, who will use focus groups and in-depth interviews to understand people’s views, fears and experiences with knife crime,” said a spokesman.

Deputy supt Suzanne Davies, serious violence reduction lead, said: “I am really pleased to be able to work with the university and young people so that together we can reduce knife crime and homicides in Lincolnshire.

“This additional funding means that we can work in a different way; we have all seen the devastating impact these offences have on families and I would much rather prevent knife crimes and deaths than investigate them.”

The police will work with the university over 15 months to engage with communities in the county before analysing the results and develop an intervention programme.

“We are really pleased to be working with the police on this important new project Dr Anthony Ellis from the university.”

A pilot of that programme will start at three secondary schools in the county and this year’s work will culminate in the roll out of the Think Sharp scheme in December this year.