London has faced a troubling increase in knife crime, particularly among young people over the last 10 years. The rise in violent incidents has drawn widespread concern and has been described as a public health crisis by the Mayor of London.
Families and communities have been left devastated by the loss of young lives, leading to calls for more robust intervention strategies that go beyond policing, such as investment in education, mental health services, and employment opportunities.
FAQs
What is SIM Community Safety Manager?
The SIM Community Safety Manager is a serious incident digital response system with three key functions:
Who developed SIM Community Safety Manager?
The system was developed in partnership with the Violence Reduction Unit at London City Hall, the Met Police and London Local Authroites.
The system was developed with a steering group of all partners, tested on Hydra Simulation Centre at Hendon Police College and piloted across London during 2023/24.
Who is SIM Community Safety Manager for?
SIM Community Safety Manager for Local Authority Community Safety teams, Police operations rooms, CCTV rooms and anyone who is involved with responding to serious incidents.
How much does SIM Community Safety Manager cost for my organisation?
SIM Community Safety Manager is free to use in London and available on a license basis for the rest of the UK.
Free for London Local Authorities.
Project Background
The Metropolitan Police Service saw a 21% increase in knife or sharp instrument incidents across the capital between 2022 and 2023.
Between January 2023 and January 2024, the rate of increase stood at 16%.
In 2019, London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan, set up the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in London - a team of specialists who bring people across London together to better understand why violence happens and to take action to prevent it now and in the long-term.
Their approach is preventative, focussing on early intervention and education to provide support and opportunities for young people.
Along with prevention work, there are also teams across London working to reduce the impact of violence when it does happen.
Police, local authority community safety teams and support services work to reduce the impact of violence on families and communities. That's where we came in.
The Serious Incident Manager (SIM) was started by the VRU to find out what would help the people who respond to serious violence.
We set up steering groups comprising people from each part of the violence response chain:
These are the areas of improvement requested by these groups of people to help them respond more effectively.
Communication
Responding
Access to information
Working with police and local authorities, the SIM digital system was developed.
Simultaneous alerts are sent via SMS, email and WhatsApp.
The system was successfully put through its paces at the Hydra Simulation Centre at Hendon Police College, a sophisticated training and incident simulation tool used by the Met Police.
Piloting took place at 4 Police BCU operations rooms and 12 local authorities over a 12-month period from 2023 to 2024.
The pilot results exceeded all targets and the system as gone on to be very well received.
The system is now free for London Local authorities and on a licence for the rest of the country.
Get in touch to talk or for a demo.
Cookie Policy
This website uses only essential cookies to operate. Please read our privacy policy for more information
