Evidence VRUs reduce serious violence but consistent approach needed, say HMICFRS

Its inspection found VRUs were also not consistently sharing learning with each other and while they were building positive relationships with voluntary organisations, more work was needed.

HMICFRS interviewed chief officers responsible for tackling serious youth violence and heads of VRUs as part of its inspection, and reviewed more than 300 relevant documents.

Twelve police force areas were inspected – ten with a VRU and, for contrast, two without, said HMICFRS.

“In these two forces, we found that officers and staff worked with other organisations to reduce serious youth violence, but their work suffered from a lack of funding and training, and from less efficient information sharing,” it added.

HMICFRS said there is some early evidence that points to VRUs reducing violent crime.

In 2021, the Home Office carried out an evaluation of VRUs. It estimated that, between April 2019 and September 2020, 41,377 violence without injury offences and 7,636 violence with injury offences were prevented in VRU areas, relative to non-funded areas.

VRUs were originally funded on an annual basis, which “created difficulties” as they could not make long-term plans with any certainty.

In 2022, the Home Office awarded VRUs a three-year funding grant, which has provided additional certainty.

“We found that some VRUs and community safety partnerships didn’t have a consistent approach to allocating resources for reducing serious youth violence,” said HMICFRS. “Although the Home Office requires all VRUs to conduct analysis into what is causing violence locally and create a strategy to prevent it, in some areas officers and staff told us of a scattergun approach to implementing serious youth violence interventions.

“We found that some interventions weren’t evaluated often enough or well enough, or, in some cases, at all. As a result, we have recommended that the Home Office should define processes for VRUs to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.

“We found that information-sharing arrangements were in place, and that VRUs had good relationships with voluntary and other organisations  , including police.

“But in some areas, better communication between organisations would help bring about more effective partnership working, as would training for VRU officers and staff on working with partner organisations.”

In all the forces inspected, HMICFRS found officers were receiving training to improve their understanding of, and confidence in, the use of stop and search powers.

Since 2017/18, there has been a steady increase in police using stop and search powers in England and Wales.

However, inspectors found that the police did not make full use of other relevant powers.

Section 34 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 gives the police powers to apply for injunctions to prevent gang-related violence and drug dealing.

“But we found that some forces find applications for them too time-consuming, bureaucratic and expensive. This discourages the police from using gang injunctions, even though recent research shows they can reduce offending,” said HMICFRS.

“Forces are working hard to build trust in their communities – for example, using stop and search scrutiny panels, youth assemblies and youth independent advisory groups. But the police may not always be reaching the right people.

“To do this, forces and other organisations may need to collaborate with people with recent experience of serious youth violence, and who may have more credibility with those peers still involved in it.”

In its framework for police recorded crime outcomes, the Home Office sets out  a range of different ways an investigation can conclude, including the suspect being diverted to a programme intended to reform them and prevent future offending.

“We found that forces were starting to use this option in relation to serious youth violence, but some officers had a flawed understanding of it, which undermined its use in those forces,” said HMICFRS.

“This may disproportionately affect young people from ethnic minority backgrounds and contribute to them being more likely to be prosecuted than their white counterparts.

“Academic research and government statistics show that children and young people from ethnic minority backgrounds are at far greater risk from serious youth violence than their white counterparts.

“But some forces don’t record or analyse protected characteristics data well enough, so they don’t understand the extent of racial disproportionality in relation to serious youth violence. As a result, those forces can’t make fully informed plans to address it.”

Inspectors found that police were increasingly willing to share information with partner organisations, such as health professionals to support those involved in serious youth violence.

“But we found that referrals relating to the mental health of children and young people often outstripped those organisations’ resources,” said HMICFRS.

“Police generally identify vulnerability and take safeguarding measures, but they need to be more aware of vulnerable offenders.”

It also found that better communication was needed between police and schools, with school exclusion leading to an increased risk of children being manipulated by criminal gangs and going on to be involved in serious violence.

“Forces and VRUs are working with schools to support children at risk of exclusion, but the relationships between these organisations would benefit from better communication,” said inspectors. “For example, some head teachers don’t consult with police about pupils at risk of exclusion. This makes it difficult for police to support those children while in education or if they are excluded from school.”

More evaluation was also needed on the effectiveness of schools liaison officers.

“We received a lot of positive feedback from independent advisory groups about the role of schools liaison officers, but we also heard concerns about them,” said HMICFRS.

“The role of schools liaison officer hasn’t been evaluated by the Home Office, the National Police Chiefs’ Council or the College of Policing. We think it should be.”

VRUs generally have good relationships with police forces, but some areas would benefit from better communication, said inspectors.

A positive example was found in the South Wales Police area, where the VRU collaborated with investigating officers to put in place an immediate safeguarding plan for a 14-year-old arrested as part of a County Lines disruption operation.

Inspectors also concluded that officers and staff in VRUs need consistent training in the processes and principles that are known to help reduce serious youth violence.

“We didn’t find any evidence that VRU staff were receiving training in partnership working and how the different organisations contained in a VRU should work together,” said HMICFRS. “Instead, we found that some leaders in VRUs made assumptions about the training officers and staff had received from their parent organisations.

“Several officers and staff told us they had received no training in what was expected of them as members of the VRU and didn’t have protocols for working together.”

HMICFRS has recommended that by March 31, 2024, chief constables should make sure their officers are trained in the use of Home Office crime outcome.

Chief constables should also make sure their forces, through data collection and analysis, understand the levels of racial disproportionality in serious youth violence in their force areas.