In 2019, the Home Office released funding to 14 police force areas, including Avon and Somerset, to tackle serious violence, which saw the introduction of Violence Reduction Units. They were renamed locally as Violence Reduction Partnerships (VRPs).
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) is the VRP hub for the Avon and Somerset teams, providing a central coordination function. It oversees all five spokes, coordinates the Home Office grant allocation and ensures the Avon and Somerset VRP is collectively meeting the objectives of the public health approach to tackling serious violence. The five local authorities are the spokes, including North Somerset.
North Somerset VRP is our local partnership response to reducing serious violence, by reducing the risk of harm, violence and exploitation within our communities. The VRP operates with a public health approach to violence reduction, focusing on: understanding the causes of violence, and the reasons why people get drawn into a life of crime, within a hub and spoke model.
With its partners, North Somerset VRP works to identify risk and vulnerability. It works to address the underlying causes of violent crime, deliver bespoke training and awareness, offer specialist interventions and work with the family or education service to ensure diversion is achieved.
You can find out more about the Avon and Somerset hub and spoke model on the Avon and Somerset Violence Reduction Partnership website.