FOI - Violence Reduction Unit [Feb 2024]

Request:

https://www.london.gov.uk/media-centre/mayors-press-release/Mayor-earmarks-additional-%C2%A3151m-to-support-the-Metropolitan-Police-and-keep-Londoners-safe

states:

"Since the VRU was set up in 2019, there has been a 22 per cent reduction in homicides, 20 per cent fall in knife crime with injury for those aged under-25, and a 16 per cent reduction in robbery. "

Could you please provide the basis of this quote please, including which years were being compared.

Response:

I can confirm that the GLA holds information in scope, which was provided to the GLA by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). The information that the GLA holds is attached (text and table)

VRU impact data
Over the last two years, London’s Violence Reduction Unit has invested in more than 150,000 positive opportunities.

Since the VRU was set up in 2019, the first of its kind in England, there has been a 22 per cent reduction in homicides, a 20 per cent fall in knife crime with injury for those aged under-25, and a 16 per cent reduction in robbery.

[Compared to November 2018 when the set-up of the VRU was announced.]