Bristol Council has adopted a public health approach to tackling violent crime – and in doing so is fully engaging the community. A stakeholder group has helped to design and implement the strategy, while community champions have been recruited to work with young people. This case study is an example of how councils are tackling youth violence.
The challenge
Gang violence and street conflict has affected parts of Bristol for many years. Back in 2001 armed police were placed on the streets in the city centre in response to a sharp rise in gang-related violence.
Over time various initiatives have been launched by the police, council and others to crackdown on the problems.
The dynamics of who is involved has changed and continues to change. A constant, however, is that gang-related violence in the city is inextricably linked to illicit drug supply.
In recent years gangs have been increasingly exploiting vulnerable young people in the city to sustain their criminal activity. Last year one in three offences committed by young people were crimes of violence against the person and there is a worrying increase in the number of young people carrying knives.
The solution
Two years ago Bristol Council decided to refresh its approach by placing a heavier emphasis on early intervention and prevention and community involvement.
Its Preventing Gang Involvement and Youth Violence Strategy was launched in 2017 by the Safer Bristol Partnership. The strategy was focused on safeguarding young people from aged 10 upwards. It set out a new vision across three key themes:
- engagement and support
- empowerment
- enforcement and disruption.
Crime Reduction Manager Stuart Pattison said: “The traditional approach had been focused around the criminal justice system. But by doing that we were not really addressing the underlying cause of the problems. Now, much like the lauded Violence Reduction Unit in Scotland, we have adopted a ‘public health’ approach.”
The impact
Bristol Council has set up a single front door and referral pathway through its multi-agency safeguarding hub. It now gets referrals from a variety of different sources including schools, social care, the youth offending team and the police as well as direct referrals from concerned members of the community. Sadly demand remains high. Currently the hub considers around 50 referrals a month.
Each month key partners meet to discuss the young people most at-risk. Mr Pattison said: “We have a really rich source of data and information. We were not joining it up before, but we are now.
“We are looking at everything from those on the periphery of gangs and crime to those who are completely entrenched. We even model those who are at most risk of gang involvement and exploitation in the future. We can tailor the support around each person.”
Statutory services including social care and early help are available, but crucially the council has also sought to involve the community as part of the solution.
A network of community champions has been recruited and trained to act as voluntary mentors to young people
at risk of being caught up in violent and organised crime. They are working with young people to ensure they get the education, employment, housing and wellbeing support they need.
Mr Pattison said they are proving to be incredibly effective. “The mentors are authentic as they come from the community and the holistic support plans provide a meaningful alternative, enabling young people to turn their back on lucrative if extremely dangerous criminal activity.”
In the long-term, Mr Pattison said he expects to see falls in the knife crime involving young people and also the public’s experience and perception of crime and anti-social behaviour. “It will not happen overnight, but I expect in the next year or so we will see the impact of the work we have started and this will continue to accelerate.”
Lessons learned
Bristol has placed community involvement at the heart of its new approach, said Mr Pattison. “We recognised that it was the big thing we were missing. In the past statutory agencies have secured some funding and parachuted in projects, thinking they have the solution.
“But we knew we had to do something different to tackle the gang-related violence we are seeing. Now we are co-designing and delivering interventions with the community members directly affected which means we benefit from their vast experience and expertise.
“We are lucky we also have a really strong voluntary and community sector. So we have involved them all along the way. A stakeholder group, including young people, faith groups and civic societies, designed the strategy and is now helping to implement it. We are fortunate that Bristol is a beneficiary of both the Youth Investment Fund and anti-knife crime Community Fund.”
Desmond Brown, a community activist and chair of the Bristol Commission for Race Equality, is one of the members of the 20-strong stakeholder group. He said: “The community needs to be held to account, it is in their gift to protect their young people and not allow criminals to prosper. This isn’t a blame game, we all need to work together.”
How the approach is being sustained
Now that good progress is being made with early intervention and prevention, Bristol is turning its attention to what else can be done to help those who are already being criminally exploited and caught up in the criminal justice system.
The pilot is based on a deferred prosecution model. In return for escaping a criminal charge and potential custodial sentence, offenders will instead be expected to engage with a community mentor for six to nine months and engage in intensive programmes, including employment or education, as well as staying out of trouble. The mentors will be paid for this work.
Mr Pattison said: “We think it is a really unique approach. I am not aware of anywhere else doing something similar for this cohort. We know when they are entrenched like this it is very challenging to get them away from the gangs.
“But we will not turn our backs on our young people and organised crime groups will find it increasingly difficult to groom and exploit them. The pilot will start with a small group and we will evaluate their outcomes properly but we are confident this, and our overall strategic approach, can have a significant impact.”
Contact
Stuart Pattison
Crime Reduction Manager, Bristol City Council
[email protected]