£2.2m Home Office Innovation Bid Success
THE UK's Home Office has announced
£2.2m of extra funding for Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver
an innovative Early Action programme aimed at fighting crime and tackling
re-offending across the county.
Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw and Lancashire Constabulary submitted a bid
for funding from the Home Office earlier this year. The successful bid will see
a range of initiatives aimed at preventing vulnerable people falling into a life
of crime or joining gangs and ensuring Lancashire Police have the have
additional resources to pursue criminals likely to cause serious harm.
The money will also be used to protect people who are vulnerable and help those
living in fear due to their involvement with organised crime groups or gangs.
The bid will be supported by other agencies such as Councils, health partners,
North West Ambulance Services and charities across Lancashire and aims to
mobilise communities into helping prevent crime and support initiatives to stop
re-offending.
Clive Grunshaw said:- "I am delighted that the Home Office has awarded
this funding so we can further develop our approach to Early Action to tackle
major issues right across Lancashire. My Police and Crime plan priorities
included tackling crime and re-offending and protecting vulnerable people and
this bid will form a key part of that delivery. The benefits of this programme
centre on reducing vulnerability and crime, improving the wellbeing of our
communities and improving the life chances of those involved in or at risk of
engaging in organised crime."
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Bates, lead for Early Action in Lancashire
Constabulary said:- "Securing this vital funding from the Home Office
means that we can push forward with delivering early intervention to children,
families and adults across the whole county together with our partner agencies.
Early action is all about preventing problems, rather than responding to them
and ensuring that individuals and families receive the most appropriate, quality
support at the earliest point possible to ultimately build social resilience and
create thriving communities. The funding will assist us to work as an integrated
team with our partners, to provide a mental health triage and responding service
and will fund various other projects such as peer mentoring to prevent and
reduce involvement in gangs, youth offending prevention activity and continuing
education around Child Sexual Exploitation. As a result of early action
individuals are less likely to enter the criminal justice system and are less
likely to need the services of police and other agencies, helping to reduce
demand on all frontline services."
The funding will go towards providing a strategic lead will with overall
responsibility for the 2 year programme along with key workers to support
vulnerable groups, work with gangs, and engage with local communities.
Additional actions include:-
► Mental health staff will be deployed within the
Constabulary's contact centre providing vital support at key times.
► Exploring the use of GPS technology to help keep track of vulnerable people
suffering from dementia who may be reported missing regularly.
► Key workers to reduce re-offending.
► Extra ambulance workers in each Early Action team to work with high intensive
users.
► Investment in case management technology to improve communications across
agencies.
The full project will be subject to an academic evaluation to ensure the full
benefit of Early Action projects is evaluated and embedded into future working.
