Blog: Tackling knife-related violence "Now and in Future"

The event

On the 4th June 2020, over 70 attendees from local authorities, the third sector and the police came together for the first event hosted by London Ventures on the topic of Knife Crime. “Tackling Knife-Related Violence: Now and in Future” was designed to bring together experts from the public and third sectors to start a conversation about how we can tackle this increasing issue, particularly in the context of Covid-19.

Our speakers

We had a range of speakers at this thought-provoking session:

  • To open the event, Lib Peck, director of the Violence Reduction Unit, discussed key challenges the sector faces, from COVID-19 to education to institutional racism and provided attendees with a call to action: we must collaborate to collectively tackle these issues.
  • Our next two speakers, Wajid Shafiq, CEO of Xantura and Helen Costa, founder of Cornerstone who are both London Ventures Partners, highlighted the role of technology in tackling knife-related violence.
    • Wajid presented a case study from Thurrock, showcasing how data can be used to identify those at risk from involvement with serious violence.
    • Helen showcased how virtual reality can facilitate behavioural change and highlighted how gamification could be used to change the future for young people.
  • Kelly Rust, director of grants and impacts at London Community Foundation, spoke to the grassroots response in London, and presented ways attendees could support grassroots organisations, such as rethinking attitudes to risk and reducing the barriers to funding.

What’s next?

This event was designed to be the start of a conversation, which we wish to continue to find innovative ways of tackling knife-related violence. The London Ventures team has already received positive feedback, both from our speakers and attendees, on the content of the event and the wish for more events on a similar subject to take place.

To continue this work, in the immediate future the London Ventures team will be working with London Heads of Community Safety and broader agencies to deliver three workshops:

  1. Understanding the challenges: Attendees will have the opportunity to share their experiences and hear feedback from other local authorities: on the most significant challenges they face, how technology has helped tackle these, and ideate around how technology could help further tackle Knife-Related Violence in their communities.
  2. Harnessing the power of Virtual Reality (VR) for behavioural change: Attendees will hear from the founder of The Cornerstone Partnership on three potential approaches that are already being explored using virtual reality to tackle knife-related violence: as therapeutic support, as a preventative educational tool, and within gaming to facilitate behaviour change. Attendees will have the opportunity to collaborate on shaping these ideas to curate a regional / pan-London approach that also meets local needs.
  3. Harnessing the power of Data Analytics to target resources: Attendees will hear from Xantura on how data analytics has been used to identify those most at risk of experiencing or perpetrating violence, and how it can be implemented more broadly. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the full capability of the technology, and challenge the service as to how it could best meet the needs in their locality.

More broadly, London Ventures will be connecting across agencies: bringing together the Violence Reduction Unit, MOPAC, third sector, and education leads, to enable collaboration and ensure solutions are fit for all.

If you would be interested in hearing more about this work or getting involved, please get in touch at londonventures@uk.ey.com.