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Tackling Scotland's gang culture
14/02/2008
Young people who are known to be involved in gangs will be targeted for new workshops and programmes designed to tackle the underlying problems and behaviour common in gang culture.
During a visit to Govan where police told him about gang related issues in the area, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced that a new dedicated fund of £200,000 has been created to take action on gangs.
This will allow local partners to deliver tailored interventions to supplement their day to day work in combating gang culture and youth disorder - including workshops to challenge territorialism and building conflict resolution skills.
Mr MacAskill said the initiative was about challenging the assumptions of young people that gang membership brought protection - and encouraging 'banter not blades' as a way of settling disputes.
Specialist training - including a toolkit with over 40 examples of intervention workshops and programmes - is being delivered to 72 professionals involved in working with gangs.
The programmes will be run as part of the "Collective Violence" phase of the Violence Reduction Unit's Anti-Violence campaign - which will also feature tough enforcement activity to disrupt gang activity, focusing on alcohol and weapon carrying, and a range of diversionary activities.
Mr MacAskill said:
"Most areas of Scotland are great places to live and work. However a small minority of our communities are blighted by gangs and the violence and antisocial behaviour they create.
"We are determined to take action to help those who are involved in gangs. To help them break out of the cycle of drink, drugs, deprivation and crime. To help their communities recover from the problems and become safer and stronger.
"This funding can help police and their local partners deliver workshops and programmes specially designed to challenge typical gang behaviour and target it at those they know are involved in gangs.
"I hope we can persuade more of these youngsters involved in gangs - or on the cusp of gang membership - to think again about whether gang life is really a protection from harm. And I hope that better-informed professional staff can work with these youngsters to help them resolve conflicts without violence - using banter more readily than a blade.
"We are determined to offer more of our youngsters a chance to get out of this cycle of offending. Our CashBack for Communities scheme, launched last month, is using money seized from criminals to provide more opportunities to stop young people becoming involved in crime. This will provide a way out for those who have started down that path - allowing help to be targeted at the people who need it most.
"It'll not happen overnight, but I believe offering more choices and chances for young people can help us turn the tide on violence in Scotland and give the next generation hope for the future. By working together, we can make Scotland a better place."
Detective Chief Inspector Andy McKay, Safer Scotland Co-ordinator, said:
"The majority of our young people are not involved in group violence or disorder, and most will grow up to be a credit to their community. But there is, sadly, a small minority who are engaged in or on the verge of being engaged in this kind of antisocial behaviour, behaviour which damages their communities and blights their lives and the lives of those around them.
"We will continue to come down hard on these people wherever and whenever they commit violence and disorder. But we need to offer those who are on the cusp of entering this lifestyle other options to harness their energy and friendship, while those who are already involved need to be given the understanding to make informed choices about their behaviour and offered a way out. Over the next few months and beyond this money will help to fund some vitally important initiatives across Scotland."
The Scottish Government is inviting police forces and their partners from across Scotland to submit bids for delivering specific behavioural change workshops. A condition for any bid is that it must be based on partnership working and that evidence of matched funding (either monetary or in-kind) is provided. There are no set amounts for specific areas. Bids are to be submitted to the VRU by February 22, 2008.
To aid the delivery of workshops and programmes specialist training is being delivered to 72 individuals (mainly consisting of police officers and local authority staff) from across Scotland. This is being delivered by the LEAP Confronting Conflict organisation - a charity who specialise in tackling gang culture. The Government is meeting the cost (£5,000) for training half the participants and Strathclyde Police are paying for the other half.
The Collective Violence phase will be launched on 3 March and will last for six weeks, providing a mix of tough enforcement, diversion and behavioural change workshops. This follows on from the previous phases on weapons knives and alcohol, where over 2000 weapons and 2400 litres of alcohol was taken off the streets. The phase on alcohol was supported by £1 million investment by Government.