Violence Reduction Unit - Strathclyde Police

The police-led Violence Reduction Unit was established in 2005 to work on long-term solutions for tackling violent crime in Scotland. It began with the Strathclyde Police but has been adopted all over Scotland.

It targets violence in all its forms – in schools and the workplace, to violence on our streets and domestic abuse. The Unit has been co-ordinating the Safer Scotland initiative, which was launched last April. As part of that campaign over 12,500 weapons were surrendered to police forces across the country during a knife amnesty.

Based at Strathclyde Police Force Headquarters, the VRU works closely with other professionals, including social workers, health experts and academics. Together, they share information to develop a better understanding of violent behaviour. This is used to create strategies for tackling violent behaviour and to challenge attitudes in society.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan leads the team, working with a detective sergeant, a principal analyst, an analyst co-ordinator, a researcher, a community safety inspector and an admin officer. The Unit can be contacted at violence.reduction@strathclyde.pnn.police.uk. Alternatively check out the website www.actiononviolence.co.uk

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Interactive crime prevention advice

Crime can affect anyone and you do not have to be a victim to suffer its effects. The fear of crime is sometimes more prominent and it can reduce your quality of life.

In addition to the advice given on the previous pages, why not take a look at our interactive crime prevention guide to further secure yourself, your home and your car against crime. You can also take part in a home security self-assessment, and see how secure your home is.

Merseyside Police in the United Kingdom have created an interactive crime page containing crime prevention advice that focuses on Home Security, Cars, Motorbikes and Bicycles, and Personal Safety.

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Advance Fee Fraud Initiative: Queensland Police Service

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) in Australia has developed an initiative to assist victims reporting Advance Fee Fraud. This initiative will, in some cases, progress a fraud report to an overseas Law Enforcement Agency. It also provides the QPS with key intelligence to proactively combat this crime.

Advance Fee Fraud scams originating from Nigeria and other West African countries such as Ghana have been deceiving people all over the world out of hundreds of thousands of dollars per month for many years. Numerous examples have been recorded of victims being deceived by African fraudsters with many now financially destitute.

Financial scams promise the victim a large return for a small investment. Internet romance scams are very aggressive in nature and target the emotional vulnerabilities of the victim. These are some of the Nigerians scams that people have recently become victim to:

• Request to use a bank account to deposit a large sum of money
• Business opportunity
• Online Relationship
• Fraudulent cheque (check) or credit card scam
• Charity scam

More information on this initiative may be obtained from the Online Reporting System for Advance Fee Fraud webpage of the Queensland Police Service.

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