ISTV – History of Information Sharing to Tackle Violence

What is Information Sharing to Tackle Violence?

Information Sharing to Tackle Violence (ISTV) is a small anonymised dataset collected by Emergency Departments (EDs) in England & Wales which is shared with local Community Safety Partnerships (CSP) on a regular (ideally monthly) basis. ISTV is a development of what is known as the Cardiff Model in recognition of where this approach to tackling violent crime was first adopted. (For more on the Cardiff Model, see below). The London ISTV team would therefore like to acknowledge the pioneering work of Professor John Shepherd and his leadership in this field and his development of this concept.

The data set is an NHS and College of Emergency Medicine approved Minimum Dataset and covers all ED attendances resulting from violent incidents.

Data are used by a range of agencies and organisations to enhance their understanding of serious violence (including geographical and temporal patterns of violence) enriching existing knowledge that has been gathered through the use of police data. Where the data allows it can support the identification of hotspots of violence not previously known to police or local authorities.

The London ISTV Programme

The London Information Sharing to Tackle Violence (ISTV) programme, overseen and co-ordinated by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), has developed a unique model that utilises a powerful data tool – Safestats – which co-ordinates information sharing and dissemination through the use of a pan-London online data hub. Use of Safestats enables ISTV data to be explored alongside other data, including from the police and ambulance service. This approach to ED data collection and analysis is unique to London.

The approach adopted in London was introduced to ensure that CSPs from different local authorities across London have access to information on all serious violent incidents committed within their borough boundaries rather than just receiving information from the ED in their area. This was identified as being critical in London as, even though a high percentage of victims of serious assault tend to present themselves at the ED near to the location of the assault, it is not uncommon for patients to delay the attendance and travel long distances to be treated at another ED outside of the immediate area. Without an ISTV centralised data hub, CSPs would only be able to access data from the ED located within their borough boundaries and so would not be able to develop a complete picture of violent assaults occurring in the area.

All 29 Type 1 EDs in London share the ISTV data set with SafeStats on a regular basis. The diagram below shows the information process that underpins work in London.

The ISTV dataset is now also used to inform the work of the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), a new body that brings together specialists from health, police, local government, probation and community organisations to tackle violent crime and its underlying causes .

The VRU has adopted a public health approach to tackling violence, meaning that the actions it takes to prevent and tackle violence are informed by research, evidence and analytical work which ensures a thorough and deep understanding of the root causes of violence affecting the different communities of London.

The Cardiff Model

The ISTV approach to violence prevention is a development of the Cardiff Model with a number of changes made in order to recognise the complexities of delivering the concept in London. The Cardiff Model was in turn developed in response to the Violence Research Group’s finding that half to two thirds of episodes of violence which result in hospital treatment are not known to the police. Subsequent research found that police knowledge of violence depends on people reporting these offences, but that many of those injured do not report because they are afraid of reprisals, don’t want their own conduct scrutinised, or because they don’t think the police could take effective action if they do report.

The Cardiff Model has three key components:

continuous data collection in EDs on precise violence location, time, weapon and numbers of assailants
information anonymised and shared regularly by hospitals with crime analysts who combine and summarise police and ED data to identify areas and times of violence concentrations
combined information translated into violence prevention by a Violence Prevention Board.

Crime and Security Research Institute, Cardiff Model

History of the adoption of the Cardiff Model

Following evidence of its impact, the Cardiff Model was rolled out across other areas of the UK with public health and police partners on Merseyside, Cambridge and the south east England being early adopters.

Wales was amongst one of the first region to show an interest in the project with the Welsh Government introducing, through its Community Safety Directorate, training workshops for key professionals.

Prompted by the publications demonstrating the effectiveness and cost benefit of the approach, and following endorsement by the World Health Organisation, many countries around the world have started to replicate the model within their cities and regions.