Key stakeholders in Newcastle will come together on Thursday to shape an action plan aimed at reducing and preventing instances of criminal exploitation and serious violence in the city.

Approximately 150 representatives from Northumbria Police, Newcastle City Council and other agencies will gather at the Discovery Museum to assess the root causes of criminal exploitation and serious violence and look at where interventions can be made to protect vulnerable residents.

Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness and Newcastle City Council’s director of public health Eugene Milne will be among those speaking in favour of a public health approach to tackling the issues. National experts will also be addressing attendees to share their experiences of the issues.

The need for a Newcastle-specific action plan was agreed earlier this year following discussions between the Safe Newcastle board; the Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board; Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board; and the Youth Offending Team.

Together, they hope to develop and implement an action plan focused on the themes of: understanding the problem; prevention, early engagement and diversion; education, awareness and training; safeguarding vulnerable people; and disruption of criminal activity.

Cllr Clare Penny-Evans, chair of Safe Newcastle and Newcastle City Council’s cabinet member for communities and climate change, said: “Criminal groups will always look to exploit the most vulnerable people in society for their own gain and to have the best chance of preventing this it is important we share our expertise and work together.

“In Newcastle we don’t have the levels of serious violence and exploitation seen in other cities, but we cannot afford to be complacent and we will always look at ways of improving outcomes for people in our city.

“It will be invaluable to share experiences and best practices with our partners in the city to find a way we can all work together to improve the safety of people living and working in Newcastle.”

Kim McGuinness, Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said: “Everyone at this conference will know that violent crime is a far more complex problem than the stereotypical image of a young male picking up a knife and lashing out, and so our response to violent crime cannot simply be a 999 call and a prison cell. Violence is not inevitable, it is in large parts predictable and we can prevent it. I’m setting up a Violence Reduction Unit to help co-ordinate our efforts and make a long-term difference here in Newcastle and throughout the whole of Northumbria. I want to work with others to ensure we can turn around lives and actually prevent people taking part in violent crime not pick up the pieces afterwards.”

Police and Crime Commissioner visits knife crime session at Foundation Kicks

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness has visited young Newcastle United Foundation footballers learning about the laws, risks and impact of knife crime.

The Commissioner took time to get to know boys and girls in North Tyneside who attend the Newcastle United Foundation’s Premier League Kicks sessions each Friday evening.

Ahead of the youngsters heading out on the pitch to play football, the group are invited to join a game-orientated workshop on knife crime led by the Foundation’s Youth Violence team.

Commissioner McGuinness, who was also accompanied by MP for North Tyneside Mary Glindon, heard how the workshops and Kicks sessions help curb anti-social behaviour in the area and teaches the next generation there always victims of crime.

By using a number of team-building exercises, physical games and quick-fire questions, youngsters learn how to contact emergency services and how to help a victim of knife crime with vital first aid.

The group then lace up their boots for their weekly Premier League Kicks session at The Parks, in North Shields, using the power of football to engage hard-to-reach youngsters in some of the most high-need areas of the region.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness said: “It’s initiatives like this that I believe can really make a difference – helping build confidence and equipping our young people with the skills and knowledge they need to hopefully encourage them to strive for a bright future.

“This can have far-reaching benefits for families, schools and ultimately the wider community too. Everyone I met from the Foundation was full of positivity and the young people were really engaged and happy to be there – a credit to all involved.”

Vital funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office sees more than 2,000 young people enjoy the free weekly football sessions each year via the Premier League Kicks programme.

The Foundation also supports young people by signposting them onto other projects that could help them develop further, including Employability Support, National Citizen Service and volunteering. A number of volunteers who started out as Kicks participants have made the transition to sessional staff, part-time and full-time coaches.

Senior PL Kicks Coordinator, Jonny Larkin, said: “It’s been fantastic to show the commissioner what our coaches do for young people in North Tyneside and explain that our charity work often goes way beyond football.

“Kim and Mary have been able to see our participants positively engaging with staff by using a mixture of sport, games and logical thinking. They’ve also been able to talk to some of our young players and hear how much they enjoy coming to The Parks each Friday night.

“Our coaches are always dedicating to helping participants grow and to encourage them to realise there are always other opportunities or paths they can take to reach their goals, whatever they may be.”

Additional funding from the Premier League, Sport England, Newcastle City Council and Postcode Community Trust allows Newcastle United Foundation staff to delivered free PL Kicks sessions at 12 different venues across Newcastle, North Tyneside, Gateshead and Northumberland.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, is continuing to pile pressure on the Government to give the green light to start recruiting local officers as soon as possible.

In an open letter to Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP, the Commissioner has made clear that with the Government’s promised funds in place, Northumbria Police is ready to roll out a smooth recruitment process and training package which will put officers back on the streets, serving local communities.

However, she has requested clarity on how many new officers Northumbria will be allocated.

Commissioner Kim McGuinness, said: “I’m going to keep putting the pressure on until funding is handed over allowing us to replace 1,100 police officers lost due to austerity.

“My message has been clear since day one. We’re geared up to go and want to see recruitment of local people. I’ve been out and about throughout the Force area and time and time again people are telling me they want more police serving our communities and less crime. This needs to be a long-term commitment too, not a short-term government announcement.”

The Commissioner added: “This is an urgent matter – how long do we have to play this waiting game? The sooner this request is facilitated and the funding materialises the better.”

Read the letter in full here.

A team of experts who volunteer their time to help tackle cybercrime have been praised for their hard work and dedication by Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness,

Northumbria Police’s Chief Constable Winton Keenen who dropped in to meet the people who make up the Force’s new cyber volunteer team this week.

Made up of recent graduates, professionals and retirees, the team was recruited over a year ago as part of a plan to bring industry experts and specialists into the Force to help with complex and lengthy cyber investigations.

Their roles are varied and change week to week but they often help test companies’ cyber security and apply their knowledge to assist with ongoing investigations.

Commissioner Kim McGuinness said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to come and spend time with the cyber volunteers and learn more about the fantastic work they do for the Force. Cybercrime is growing nationally and we need to make sure we utilise all the skills and expertise we can to help us tackle the problem head on.

“Having professionals who know what they are doing working alongside trained officers and detective is fantastic to see.”

Chief Constable Keenen said: “We are incredibly lucky to have recruited such expertise into the Force. It has been an absolute privilege to meet our cyber volunteers and see their specialist skills and knowledge being put to use.

“Just seeing the results this small team can bring is fantastic and it’s definitely a huge benefit to us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work, your passion and for choosing to share your skills with us.

Chief Constable Keenen and Commissioner Kim McGuinness visited the volunteers in person at Byker station on Saturday, August 17.

This week, Commissioner, Kim McGuinness visited two of the Wearside groups who were awarded funding from her Community Fund to tackle hate crime and support mental health services.

Yesterday (Wednesday), the Commissioner visited Sunderland Bangladesh Centre who received a £2,000 grant to support their ongoing work in the local community tackling hate crime.

She also met with staff at Washington Mind and awarded the charity £1,972 to provide female mental health peer support group sessions and support early intervention.

Affiliated with national charity Mind, the Wearside-based branch provides a range of services to people across the region including therapies, peer support, crisis care and employment.

Commissioner McGuinness said: “It was great to see first-hand how these two groups are making a real difference on Wearside.

“It was a pleasure to meet the teams at Washington Mind and the Sunderland Bangladesh Centre. We’ll be staying in touch with them over the coming months and I look forward to hearing the positive impact that their projects have made in the local community.

“We know that in Sunderland and Washington, people look out for their neighbours and these two projects focus on tackling hate crime, reducing anti-social behaviour and making sure residents feel safer and more secure, which is crucial.”

The Commissioner’s Community Fund awards grants to neighbourhoods and communities across Wearside, Tyneside and Northumberland who run activities or projects that support tackling hate crime, reducing anti-social behaviour and increasing community confidence.

More than 120 volunteers supported police officers and staff across the North of England as part of an ongoing clampdown on rural crime.

Operation Checkpoint – which is the biggest rural policing operation of its kind in the country – saw more than 100 vehicles stopped and checked in the Northumbria, Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham and North Yorkshire areas.

Running from the evening of Tuesday (August 6) into the early hours of Wednesday (August 7), the operation resulted in two arrests in Northumbria, for assault and dangerous driving, and is one of several Checkpoint deployments due to take place this year.

Over 40 officers and volunteers joined officers from Northumbria Police this week in the show of strength against rural crime.

A total of 35 vehicles were stopped overnight across Northumbria and saw officers and volunteers visiting farms and landowners and acted on local intelligence to disrupt rural crime.

Forces worked alongside partners from the Environment Agency, Forestry England, NFU and Angling trust members in addition to a number of Special Constables supporting officers to carry out the successful initiative.

Superintendent Helen Anderson, of Northumbria Police, said: “The support from our volunteers and partner agencies during these types of operations is superb.

“It demonstrates fantastic teamwork and highlights how partnership working can be incredibly beneficial and produce real results.

“It sends out a clear message to criminals that crime targeting our rural areas will not be tolerated, and we will continue to work with our neighbouring forces in the future to clamp down on this kind of offending.

“I would particularly like to thank all of the volunteers and staff who gave their time and best efforts to assist us and the rural communities, this operation would not be a success without your hard work and dedication so thank you.”

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said: “It is amazing to see the dedication from all of our volunteers.

“Our volunteers are crucial in the fight against rural crime especially in our more isolated communities.

“They give up their own time to help officers and partners to protect and safeguard the public in the fight against rural crime- they are a credit to themselves and their communities.”

You might recognise our Checkpoint Operations as they featured on one of the BBC One episodes of ‘Our Cops of the North’.

To find out more about rural policing and how you can volunteer, contact your local Neighbourhood Policing Team, by dialling 101 or visiting the Northumbria Police website.