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Category: NEWS & EVENTS

Investing in Police Community Engagement

Posted on by DOJ Team

The Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF) is funded by the Programme and is often the most visible element of policing’s contribution towards addressing paramilitary harm. However, the Programme has also provided a £145,000 investment to policing for the delivery of Community Safety and Engagement projects.

 

Chief Inspector Joanne Gibson from the Strategic Partnerships and Prevention Branch explains more: “This investment allows us to support a range of projects in communities who have specific challenges. These initiatives are tailored to meet the needs of different areas, allowing our local officers the opportunity to engage with people, build relationships and break down barriers in an informal setting.

 

“We also deliver projects that enhance problem-solving around issues impacting on the community and that promote engagement with, and visibility of, policing. This work complements the activities of the PCTF, as we know that in order to deliver safer communities a security and criminal justice approach alone will not suffice.”

Ending the Harm Public Awareness Campaign Update

Posted on by DOJ Team

The Programme’s hard-hitting Ending the Harm public awareness campaigns highlight how organised crime and paramilitary activity can have a devastating impact on victims, their families, local communities and wider society. The current campaign focuses on how these gangs use illegal money lending to control and coerce vulnerable people.


Our Programme Team Communications Manager explains more:  
“Our current campaign, which has been live since June 2021, is more important now than ever given the ongoing cost of living crisis. It will be particularly active from now until January next year and we will have a presence across TV, radio, billboards and online, highlighting the harms of this practice and signposting people to appropriate help.


“We have studied where the adverts have been most effective over the past year and have used that information to make changes to where we are spending our campaign budget going forward. For example, we’re now less active on Instagram and have used that money to advertise more on TikTok, where we have achieved good levels of engagement.”

Submission to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s Inquiry into the effects of paramilitaries on society in Northern Ireland

Posted on by DOJ Team

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (NIAC) has launched a new inquiry into the effect of paramilitaries on society in Northern Ireland and the Programme has submitted a report to the Committee in response to questions that it raised about paramilitary issues.

Adele Brown, Programme Director commented, “This report gives us the opportunity to give the NIAC inquiry an insight into the brilliant work being done by people and organisations in communities across Northern Ireland to address the harm caused by paramilitarism. It also contains an explanation of Phase 2 of the Programme and its public health approach to violence reduction and I would recommend it to anyone who would like an overview of the work delivered across our Programme.”

 

To find out more about the Inquiry, please click here.

 

To read the report, please click here.