West Yorkshire Police launched its Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) on Thursday, vowing to work with community projects aimed at educating young people so to prevent the spread of gang and drug-fuelled violence.

Louise Hackett, Director of the VRU, told a launch conference in Leeds on Thursday that "we can't arrest our way out of this issue".

While reports of violent crime have seen a drop in the past year, West Yorkshire remains one of the worst-affected areas for knife crime in England while county lines drugs gangs are a major issue for police.

West Yorkshire Police has received a extra surge funding to launch its Violence Reduction Unit, aimed at working with communities to tackle serious violent crime

The force has been given £3.37m from the Home Office to spend on its VRU, including funding grassroots projects in the five districts which work with young people at risk of being exploited by gangs or lured into a life of crime.

The funding follows £4.02m in 'surge' money granted to the force last year, while Home Secretary Priti Patel promised further funding last week to the force, highlighted as one of 18 forces in England where violence is a serious problem.

The conference on Thursday heard from a number of previous offenders, young people in local schools and community project leaders, all of whom are working with police to infiltrate the bottom of the crime food chain and prevent lives being ruined.

Detective Superintendent Chris Gibson addressed the conference, saying: "I have seen first hand the effects of violent crime.

County lines drugs dealing is a high priority issue for West Yorkshire Police

"I have had to tell family members that their loved ones have been killed, stabbed, murdered."

Former police officer Mark Kellett, who works for charity Breaking the Cycle Bradford, said he had been working with one teenager who had managed to break free from gang crime and carting drugs around the country.

He said: "This young man had smoked a lot of weed and had built up a debt. He was shipped around the country. Swansea was the most recent place he was sent to.

"While there, he managed to get hold of an addict's phone and call his mother. These are the kind of problems young people face and the hold these gangs.

West Yorkshire Police is going into schools and funding community projects to educate teenagers on the consequences of knife and drug crime

"Within a couple of days, he had been given a panic alarm. He was taken down by a member of a serious organised crime group and forced to retract his statement. A couple of days later he was back on the streets selling drugs again."

Heather Wilson, from the charity, said that nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of young people referred to their service had been groomed by criminals, grooming others, or both. Half had been sent to other towns and cities by county lines gangs selling drugs.

The Bradford teenager has since managed to a place at college, although remains vulnerable and in need of support.

West Yorkshire Police also revealed how it was taking a public health approach to tackling violent crime

County lines drug dealing is a high priority issue for West Yorkshire Police

The conference heard from Helen Christmas, from Public Health England, who said: "Violence is a public health issue – it does affect the health and well-being of families and communities."

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), said: “The VRU has been created to tackle and better understand the root causes of violent crime and bringing together organisations to develop a truly collaborative approach to address and prevent serious violence.

“We are pleased that the Home Office has announced a further round of funding for VRU’s so that the work can continue into 2021 and enable us to create a long-term strategy to tackle serious violence in West Yorkshire, and will be pressing for the funding to be sustained over the next Comprehensive Spending Review period from 2021.

“The VRU will not just focus on high-risk individuals, but look at how we can tackle the causes of youth violence. Public health approaches start from the principle that prevention is better than cure.

“Early intervention and partnership working are key to the success of the VRU and this is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase the work which has already been undertaken by the VRU and how we can work collaboratively with communities and our partner agencies to shape and develop the positive impact VRU can make.”

'We can't arrest our way out of the problem of violent crime', say West Yorkshire Police