St Mary’s Stadium has hosted Southampton’s first ever Serious Violence Summit amid an increase of crime in the city.
The event, which took place last Thursday (6th February) saw the attendance of over 150 stakeholders in the city, including notable individuals, organisations, and community groups.
As of December last year, the crime rate in Southampton stood at 32.8 per 1000 people, well above the national average, with 21,800 violent crimes reported. This marks an annual increase of 8.7%.
We are proud to support the Serious Violence Summit Conference @SouthamptonFC @HantsPolice @HantsPCC on the launch of the draft delivery plan in combatting serious violence across our communities here in #Southampton pic.twitter.com/t7ctL6LPpN
— Go Southampton (@Go_Southampton) February 6, 2020
The conference was organised by GO! Southampton, the Business Improvement District (BID) for Southampton City Centre, on behalf of the Safer City Partnership and Hampshire Constabulary.
Among the attendees were Chris Brown, the Violence Reduction Manager at Southampton City Council, and Hampshire Constabulary’s Chief Constable, Olivia Pinkney.
Speaking after the event, Brown said:
Thank you to all of the delegates and key speakers for attending the Summit. It was a great opportunity for young people, Councillors, businesses, police, probation and charities in the City to collectively discuss the challenges we face as a City. It’s only by working together that we can help tackle the causes of serious violence, and stop the impact of violence on individuals, families and communities in the City. We look forward to be moving forwards with the outcomes identified as a result of today, which will form a key part of the Safer City Partnership.
This refers to the draft Serious Violence delivery plan, which will be informed by the consultation held at the St Mary’s event on Thursday.
The news follows an announcement by Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane to award the county half a million pounds to tackle serious violent crime.
