The Home Office published their Serious Violence Strategy on 9 April 2018; it set out the government’s response to serious violence and recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide.

View the Serious Violence Strategy

It also gave the following overview, stating:

Bexley’s Serious Violence Strategy and the associated action plan incorporate the ethos of the themes in the national strategy, whilst recognising that we need to deliver a bespoke response in the borough. It is recognised that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and actions should be tailored correspondingly to the risks posed and the resources available.

To help understand and tackle the rise in violence against the person offences in the borough, this BCSP response encompasses four main themes:

Each of these areas will receive a similar approach and recognises that serious violence originates from various sources for different reasons. However, there is still a degree of cross-cutting behaviours and criminality between these themes, which need to be understood to better understand how to tackle serious violence holistically.

We will build on the excellent partnership working between statutory and non-statutory organisations (including the voluntary/community sector) within the BCSP. Maximising these links and working more collaboratively on serious violence at a time when partners are facing organisational change and a reduction in resources is a challenge for all.

Communities and local partnerships are at the heart of our response. This issue must be understood and owned locally so that all the relevant partners can play their part, galvanising the local response to tackling serious violence and ensure that we are reflecting local challenges within our plans. Cross-referencing to the Councils ‘Connected Communities Strategy’ and ‘Community Champions’ will help us to thread this way of thinking and engagement into our partnership work.

Commissioning innovative projects from specialist providers that support communities, victims, perpetrators, and their families is key to help prevent future victims and offenders. One-to-one mentoring, for example, is an excellent way for young people to engage, form positive relationships and make better life choices.

We stress the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and steer young people away from crime in the first place while giving the police the support they need to tackle violent crime.

The strategy is supported by a Violence & Vulnerability Reduction Action Plan (VVRAP), tailored to the specific issues in Bexley and any emerging threats from other boroughs. It focuses on early intervention and prevention, enforcement, support, and information sharing.

The plan is delivered by the BCSP Serious Violence Working Group but ’owned’ and monitored in Bexley by the BCSP Executive Group. This group which reports to the BCSP Board, comprises of both statutory and non-statutory members and is led by a CSP Board member (see Violence and Vulnerability Reduction Action Plan).

The Southeast Police Basic Command Unit (BCU) from the Metropolitan Police Service brought Greenwich, Lewisham & Bexley boroughs together into one BCU in 2018. This has demonstrated itself as a useful format in which to further share information, best practice, and emerging trends in the three boroughs around all crime issues including serious violence. It also ensures that resources are deployed across the BCU based on threat, risk and harm to individuals and the community.

• Background information is available on crime data, delivery, associated links referenced in the strategy and a glossary of terms.