Contents

Introduction and Executive Summary

This is the refresh of the Bexley Community Safety Partnership (BCSP) Serious Violence Strategy for 2025. It updates the BCSPs response to the rise in serious violence in the London Borough of Bexley. The Strategy remains a fluid document being reviewed annually and updated with emerging serious violence issues taken from both the Joint Strategic Assessment (JSA), intelligence from partners and this year, the Serious Violence Strategic Needs Assessment.

The overarching aim of this Strategy is to reduce serious violence incidents in the borough and help support those victims, offenders and communities involved. This increases resilience, promotes better life choices, and empowers residents to take more ownership of their neighbourhoods.

Executive Summary

The Home Office published their Serious Violence Strategy on 9 April 2018; it set out the government’s response to serious violence and recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide.

View the Serious Violence Strategy

It also gave the following overview, stating:

Law enforcement is a very important part of the Serious Violence Strategy, but it also looks at the root causes of the problem and how to support young people to lead productive lives away from violence. Helping to catch young people before they go down the wrong path, encouraging them to make positive choices.”

Bexley’s Serious Violence Strategy and the associated action plan incorporate the ethos of the themes in the national strategy, whilst recognising that we need to deliver a bespoke response in the borough. It is recognised that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and actions should be tailored correspondingly to the risks posed and the resources available.

To help understand and tackle the rise in violence against the person offences in the borough, this BCSP response encompasses four main themes:

  • Gangs

  • Serious Youth Violence

  • Weapon Enabled Violence

  • Organised Crime Networks

Each of these areas will receive a similar approach and recognises that serious violence originates from various sources for different reasons. However, there is still a degree of cross-cutting behaviours and criminality between these themes which need to be understood to better understand how to tackle serious violence holistically.

We will build on the excellent partnership working between statutory and non-statutory organisations (including the voluntary/community sector) within the BCSP. Maximising these links and working more collaboratively on serious violence at a time when partners are facing organisational change and a reduction in resources is a challenge for all.

Communities and local partnerships are at the heart of our response. This issue must be understood and owned locally so that all the relevant partners can play their part, galvanising the local response to tackling serious violence and ensure that we are reflecting local challenges within our plans. Cross-referencing to the Councils ‘Connected Communities Strategy’ and ‘Community Champions’ will help us to thread this way of thinking and engagement into our partnership work.

Commissioning innovative projects from specialist providers that support communities, victims, perpetrators, and their families; is key to help prevent future victims and offenders. One to one mentoring for example is an excellent way for young people to engage, form positive relationships and make better life choices.

We stress the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and steer young people away from crime in the first place, while giving the police the support they need to tackle violent crime.

The Strategy is supported by a Violence & Vulnerability Reduction Action Plan (VVRAP), tailored to the specific issues in Bexley and any emerging threats from other boroughs. It focuses on early intervention and prevention, enforcement, support, and information sharing.

The Plan is delivered by the BCSP Serious Violence Working Group but ’owned’ and monitored in Bexley by the BCSP Executive Group. This group which reports to the BCSP Board, comprises of both statutory and non-statutory members and is led by a CSP Board member (see Violence and Vulnerability Reduction Action Plan).

The BCSP works in partnership with the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (SHIELD), the Local Safeguarding Adults Board (BSAB), the Local Health and Wellbeing Board, and the Local Drugs Partnership. There are representatives from each of these Boards at the BCSP Board meetings, to ensure that cross-cutting issues and practices are fed into all relevant Boards to enable a coordinated response to concerns and implementation of the Serious Violence Duty.

The Southeast Police Basic Command Unit (BCU) from the Metropolitan Police Service brought Greenwich, Lewisham & Bexley boroughs together into one BCU in 2018. This has demonstrated itself as a useful format in which to further share information, best practice, and emerging trends in the three boroughs around all crime issues including serious violence. It also ensures that resources are deployed across the BCU based on threat, risk and harm to individuals and the community.

Bexley has sat within the top 6 of the ‘safest’ London boroughs based on total crime offence statistics since 2011. This is an enviable position that we don’t wish to fall from, despite the current challenges that all boroughs face around serious violence. This Strategy aims to keep us in that position by tackling all aspects of serious violence in collaborative and innovative ways and very much includes the local community on that journey.