The Scottish Government works with the national police-led Violence Reduction Unit, the Association of Chief Police Officers, local Community Safety Partnerships and other partners to tackle violence in Scotland. As well as supporting tough action to punish those who break the law, we're investing in work to tackle the causes of violence.
A broad range of Government activities work together to address violence behaviour and offending. Alcohol can often be a contributory factor in violence. The Government's Alcohol Bill, currently going through the Scottish Parliament, seeks to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol, which would help reduce alcohol misuse, and the violence that happens as a result of it. Through CashBack for Communities we will invest at least £13 million through to 2011 in youth diversionary activities giving young people things to do and help keep them away from violence. Our £500,000 No Knives Better Lives campaign is challenging attitudes to knife carrying among young people. We've also provided funding to put record numbers of police officers on the streets, to make sure that people can feel safe wherever they live and work.
Knife Crime
Everyone in Scotland should feel safe from the threat of violence and knife crime. Violence, and knife crime in particular, doesn't just affect those who are victims. It can have a huge impact on wider community confidence and safety. The Scottish Government works with the Police, Local Authorities, Community Safety Partnerships and others to tackle knife crime in areas where it is a problem.
There are two parts to our approach for dealing with knife crime;
Gang Violence
The Scottish Government has recently invested £1.6 million in the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) to tackle the gang culture that fuels knife crime. The Violence Reduction Unit are leading on the development of this £5 million project, which seeks to intensively engage with over 700 identified gang members and provide them with a range of support services and diversion projects in an effort to change their behaviour and prospects.
Gun Crime
Enormous damage can be caused by the irresponsible and dangerous use of firearms and airguns. The Scottish Government is clear that it is not acceptable for communities to continue to suffer as a result of the selfish and stupid actions of those who treat guns as toys.
Violence Reduction Unit
The police-led Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) helps Police Forces and the Scottish Government identify, develop and implement effective ways of dealing with the problem of violence. They have adopted a two stranded approach based on enforcement and prevention. This involves coordinated and sustained action by police forces to tackle the existing problems head on and longer term work to educate young people to prevent violence before it occurs.