CRIME PREVENTION
HOMICIDE ACROSS 43 FORCES
REDUCING
Every murder is one too many, so the College of Policing has created a homicide prevention framework to help meet this enormous challenge
Police have never been busier and the demands on officers only seem to grow. You just need to look at the crime statistics to understand the challenges faced with high levels of violence, drugs, and knife crime. For the most serious of all crimes, homicide, the figures are stark. In the last year alone, there were almost 600 killings across England and Wales. While this is a drop of about 12 per cent on the previous year, the figure is still almost double what it was in the early 1960s. In the past 50 years, the rate per million people has jumped from six to almost ten. The high numbers prompted the government, in its Beating Crime Plan, to demand a reduction in killings and a greater focus on the crimes that drive them. But there is now a broad acceptance
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that policing alone cannot cut homicide rates. So, how can police officers working on the front line across 43 forces get support in their attempts to reduce the national homicide rate?
“Homicide’s obviously the most tragic and
rarest of crimes and very difficult to prevent. It’s easier for us to think about prevention when we can combine information from several forces”
“Homicide’s obviously the most tragic
and the rarest of crimes – and very difficult to prevent. It makes it easier for us to think about prevention when we can combine information from several forces together,” said Rachel Tuffin, director at the College of Policing. Tuffin helped lead a team from the College of Policing, the National Police
Chiefs’ Council, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), and forces that came together last year to create the Homicide Prevention Framework. It brings together good practice, toolkits, and examples of how to tackle the crimes that are driving homicide; focusing on domestic abuse, knife crime, drugs, serious violence, and alcohol abuse. Project lead and Kent
Police chief superintendent, Nigel Brooks, explained: “The framework is designed to be a comprehensive one-stop shop, where policing and partners can go to find all the materials, the resources, the guidance, and the research relating to homicide and the drivers of homicides in one place.” The team visited projects in ten forces that were showing signs of success,
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