Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster has secured funding worth more than £1million over the next three years to tackle serious violence and knife crime.
The Home Office funding will enable the Commissioner and a team of multi-agency partners to launch a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in Derbyshire to address the root causes of serious violence and prevent further offending.
It will also fund a raft of evidence-based interventions to ensure young people receive the support and opportunities they need to get their lives back on track.
The Commissioner has made it a priority in her Police and Crime Plan that police and criminal justice partners work in a targeted and sustained way to tackle and reduce knife and violent crime. She has also pledged to take a proactive approach to reduce reoffending.
The Home Office funding is part of a support package to help the Commissioner and partners implement the government's Serious Violence Duty which came into effect nationally in January.
The Duty places a legal responsibility on Police and Crime Commissioners and statutory partners including the police, local authorities, the fire and rescue service, probation and youth offending teams, to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence. This includes knife crime and gun violence.
Recruitment is already underway to appoint key roles within the new VRU. These comprise a Serious Violence Programme Manager, Serious Violence Analyst, Community and Youth Person Involvement Officer and a Communication and Campaigns Officer.
Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster said: "We are determined to tackle serious violence and protect our residents. I have been working with partners for some time and we have been advancing our prevention plans.
"This funding will allow us to tackle risk more effectively and protect young people from being drawn into violence in the first place. It will also help to prevent those already in the system from becoming more serious offenders.
"Whilst there are already strong partnerships in place to address these issues in Derbyshire, the Serious Violence Duty and this substantial grant will deliver increased investment to the areas where it will make the most difference.
"As partners, we understand that serious violence is complex and cannot be solved overnight. Working together, we will draw on all available evidence to fund effective and results-driven intervention that stops violence in its tracks and gives young people the tools they need to secure a better future."
Representatives from the City Council, County Council, Public Health and the Police joined the Commissioner's Office in a multi-agency planning session in April to design a delivery plan informed by evidence-based interventions that positively impact serious violence offending.
Service providers were invited to put their proposals forward to deliver the programme in a formal tender process. Following the appraisal of an multi-agency scoring panel, registered charity Remedi were awarded the contract which is due to get underway this summer.