The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was at Croydon FJC today to see how the borough is leading the way with its work to tackle serious violent crime in the capital.
Croydon is piloting the Drive programme for London, which aims to help stop high risk perpetrators of domestic abuse re-offending and to ensure the safety of survivors and their families.
The FJC provides services for those experiencing domestic abuse, and the mayor is providing funding for Drive, which sits alongside its survivor services. He also announced further funding today.
“I am appalled that more Londoners, especially women and girls, are experiencing these devastating crimes which so often happen behind closed doors,” said the Mayor.
“Support services in the capital do an amazing job, but the cuts to funding have left them at breaking point. Victims, some of the most vulnerable people in our society, are often having to wait a long time for help.
“We are doing what we can and investing a further £15m in projects like Drive – and I am committed to working with the sector to tackle violence against women and girls.”
Drive started in the borough in July 2018 and runs until March 2020 and the Mayor, joined the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Sophie Linden, Croydon Council leader, Tony Newman and Councillor Hamida Ali, Cabinet Member for Safer Croydon and Communities, to find out more about the programme.
The group met with staff working with survivors and perpetrators and then joined a roundtable discussion with local anti-domestic abuse leads, including Croydon Police, Imkaan, Respect, RISE Mutual, SafeLives and South London Rape Crisis Centre.
The talks focused on funding, awareness raising, welfare support, the skills to voluntary sector bring to this work, and agreement that Croydon is working well in partnership to tackle this offence.
Councillor Hamida Ali, cabinet member for safer Croydon and communities
“We welcomed the mayor’s visit and this additional investment in services, which will make a major difference to survivors and their families.
“It is great to have the mayor and deputy mayor’s support and to hear the voluntary sector’s view that Croydon is leading the way with this crucial work.
“Croydon continues to be at the forefront of tackling this serious violent crime. We are proud to be leading the way in piloting the Drive programme for London.
“We know that one in four perpetrators of domestic violence are repeat offenders and can victimise as many as six people – so this work is crucial in helping to ensure the safety of survivors and their families.”
So far there have been 58 case referred for the intensive one-to-one programme, which challenges perpetrators’ behaviour and aims to establish long-term behaviour change.
Drive is being delivered by RISE, who deliver behavioral change programmes and new approaches to working with perpetrators of abuse.
The programme is funded by the Home Office through the Police Transformation Fund (in England and Wales) and MOPAC.
