The Future of Gang and Knife Crime Prevention 2021
Online Event 29 June 2021, 9:00am - 30 June 2021, 2:00pm
Day 1
9:00am
Online Registration
9:30am
Chair's Welcome Address
Stan Gilmour, Director, Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit
9:40am
Keynote Address: Meeting The Challenge Of Data-Driven Policing And Delivering Public Value
- The impact of the onset of a digital society on the landscape for UK policing
- New technological developments such as 5G, the internet-of-things and blockchain technologies and the challenges they pose to law enforcement
- Case study examples of crime reduction using a data-driven approach
- Generating efficiencies and freeing up police officers to engage in more value-added activity
- Overcoming challenges such as police misuse of data, privacy and data bias
Dr Ian Kearns, Senior Associate Fellow, The Police Foundation
10:00am
Keynote Address: Building Greater Dialogue Between Police And Young People To Develop Cohesive And Effective Solutions To Youth Violence
- Discussing issues that affect young people with them: Using their input to ask the correct questions around violence and using that information to develop solutions
- Mentoring and engaging with young people who have been in custody for violent crime through the DIVERT program to divert them away from crime and help them achieve education and employment goals
- Focusing on a public health approach to cover the underlying drivers of violence and understanding that knife crime is a symptom of a combination of risk factors such as a compromised start in life
- Understanding peer pressure such as online, virtual and face-to-face and deterring youths from crimes including knife crime and online crimes
David Oldfield, Chief Inspector, Lancashire Violence Reduction Unit
10:20am
Tackling Trafficking Criminal Networks and Challenges Involved
- Role of non-governmental organization and welfare organization in tackling human trafficking in India
- Use of Design Based Approach to tackling trafficking criminal networks
- Need for interdisciplinary and collaborative approach
- Trafficking link between South Asia and United Kingdom
Manikandan Soundarajan, Lecturer in Criminology, Department of Law and Criminology, UEL
10:40am
Questions And Answers Session
11:05am
Break and Networking
11:35am
Keynote Address: Cut To The Chase - The Troubling Link Between Violent Youth Crime And Poor Mental Health
- Addressing the impact of poor mental health and self-esteem: what happens when the threat and consequences of knife crime create a vicious circle
- Entering into dialogue with young people who think their only escape is through incarceration, injury, or death
- Understanding that to tackle knife crime and address rising adolescent mental health issues requires us to listen deeply to young people and equip them with mechanisms that help them improve
Nathalie Richards, Founder and CEO, EduKit
11:55am
Case Study: Developing A Recruitment Campaign To Boost Diversity In A Police Force
- Transforming Bedfordshire police into one of the most diverse police forces in the country
- Valuing the difference between people and the benefits that can be gained from those differences
- Promoting careers in policing to people for black and Asian backgrounds
- Attracting more women from diverse backgrounds such as Eastern European communities
- Designing a bespoke programme including events, community engagement, targeted marketing and advertising
Mo Aziz, Chief Inspector, Bedfordshire Police
12:15pm
Ten-Year Transformative Vision For Policing: The Impact On Our CYP – What Does This Look Like In A Utopia World
Paulette Watson, Managing Director, Academy Achievers
12:35pm
Questions And Answers Session
1:00pm
Chairs Summary and Close
Stan Gilmour, Director, Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit
Day 2
9:00am
Online Registration
9:30am
Chair’s Welcome Address
Stan Gilmour, Director, Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit
9:40am
Keynote Address: What's Happening Now And Why
Dr Simon Harding, Professor of Criminology, University of West London
10:00am
Case Study: Tackling Violent Crime and Its Underlying Causes Through The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)
- Taking a different approach to violence reduction through the collaboration of public sector institutions and communities
- Finding the major causes of violence and adoption a co-ordinated approach to deliver a long-term reduction in crime
- Using funding from the Mayor to set up local teams to work in the community with the focus of cutting violence
- Reducing all forms of violence including gun crime and knife crime using a public health approach
- Intervening at critical moments in a young person’s life to prevent or reduce the likelihood of violent incidents in the future
Lib Peck, Director, Violence Reduction Unit, London City Hall
10:20am
Keynote Address: Assessing the Impact Of Covid-19 on the Criminal Exploitation of Children
- The impact of the pandemic on patterns of child criminal
- Direct insight from children, young people and frontline workers
- How we responded to changing needs during COVID
- Lessons from the pandemic to inform future policy and practice
Michelle Lee-Izu, Corporate Director for Children’s Services, Development & Innovation, Barnardo’s
10:40am
Questions And Answers Session
11:05am
Break and Networking
11:35am
Keynote Address
Patrick Green, CEO, The Ben Kinsella Trust
11:55am
Branching Stories: Prevention And Intervention Through The Use Of Interactive Film And Data
- Branching Stories and how they can help tackle complex social issues through storytelling and data
- Data and technology: mapping every individual choice to a data field and gathering quantifying non-identifying data on all participants throughout the interactive experience and detecting emerging patterns among specific demographics
- Creating safer communities for all those living amongst them - especially young people
- Raise awareness around the severity of knife crime, youth violence and the long term impact it can have on those involved including their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
- Educating young people, by teaching them how to respond accordingly, should they ever find themselves in a similar situation to the characters in the story, for example: Who they should immediately contact for help, how to instantly treat a life-threatening injury and the repercussions of carrying a knife
- Provide professionals who work in tackling knife crime and youth violence with quantitative data to which they can use to inform their practice
Joe Roberts, Director, Perception Theatre
12:25pm
Keynote Address: Tackling County Lines Activity: National And International Operations And Upstream NCA Capabilities
- Targeting upstream to reducing the impact of county lines activity and the associated violence, drug dealing and exploitation
Amy Wiedeman, Senior Manager National County Lines Coordination Centre, National Crime Agency
12:45pm
Questions And Answers Session
1:05pm
Chairs Summary and Close
Stan Gilmour, Director, Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit