A TOTAL of £2.32m will be made available to reduce serious violent crimes across the region.
After it was revealed that the Northumbria Police force area was one of the 18 worst affected by violent crime, the force will receive its share of a £12.4m fund announced by Home Secretary Sajid Javid to deal with crime of that nature.
It is a further funding allocation from the Government’s £100m Serious Violence Fund.
The money will be used for additional officer deployments, improved intelligence, and targeting habitual knife carriers.
Mr Javid said: “I’ve been doing everything in my power to ensure we have the strongest possible response to tackle violent crime – and law enforcement plays a key role in this.This money means forces can take urgent action, including more officers on duty in the worst affected areas.”
The announcement came ahead of the first meeting of a new Ministerial Taskforce on Serious Youth Violence, chaired by the Prime Minister, in Downing Street last week.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird, said: “This is welcome news for Northumbria as it will allow us to continue effective partnership work in deterring young people away from serious and violent crime and enable us to continue pursuing dangerous offenders putting our communities at risk.”
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