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South Gloucestershire is a safe place to live and work but incidents of serious violence do occur. To combat this, our violence reduction partnership (VRP) works to prevent and reduce incidents of serious violence.

It does this by:

  • identifying the root causes of serious violence
  • intervening early to prevent and reduce incidents
  • tackling challenging behaviours such as knife crime, county lines and school exclusions
  • identifying and preventing cases of sexual exploitation and forced criminality

What is the violence reduction partnership

The VRP is made up of professionals working together to identify challenging behaviours and intervening quickly to prevent serious violence.

Representatives are drawn from a range of services including community safety, social work, youth outreach, public health, education and the police.

It forms part of a regional operation covering Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City, Somerset and North Somerset as well as South Gloucestershire.

You can find more information on the VRP on the website for the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner.

How it works

The VRP uses a public health approach which looks at violent behaviours as an illness. It aims to investigate causes and to intervene at the earliest opportunity to prevent violent incidents.

It provides education and minimises the impacts of serious violence before it gets worse.

Local data on incidents and individuals is assessed to provide evidence and understanding of why certain crimes take place in South Gloucestershire.

Using a trauma based approach

People who have experienced trauma in their lives can have trouble identifying, expressing and managing emotions. This can lead to anxiety and potentially violent behaviour.

The VRP aims to educate communities about the impact of trauma on individuals. It further aims to create an environment that supports victims of trauma and rehabilitates individuals to prevent future violence.

Report serious violence

Call 999 in an emergency or if anyone is at risk of immediate harm. You will be connected to a phone operator who will ask which service you need.

The non-emergency number for Avon and Somerset Police is 101.

If you do not want to call the police you can complete their online form to report a crime or incident or you can report anonymously to Crimestoppers or their youth service Fearless.

In non-emergency situations you should call us if you have concerns about the safety of a child or an adult:

Safeguarding children

Safeguarding adults

Child exploitation

The South Gloucestershire Children’s Partnership work to protect children from exploitation and being forced into criminal activity, sexual abuse and involvement in serious violence.

Parents, carers and anyone concerned can visit Child Exploitation – information for parents and carers for signs that a child is being exploited and information on how to get help and support.

Help and support for young people

There is information on types of crime such as county lines, knife crime and child sexual exploitation and how to spot the signs on Fearless which is part of Crimestoppers.

You can also read our guide on starting conversations about knife crime for parents and carers of young people.

There is advice on the MindYou website, including how to get help if you are being exploited or controlled or you are worried about your own or someone’s else’s behaviour.

If you are a young person aged 11 to 18 years you can get free, safe and anonymous online counselling support from Kooth.

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