The links between weapons, alcohol and violence are to be explored at a one day conference to be held in Edinburgh by the Violence Reduction Unit.

The Weapons and Alcohol Fuelled Violence conference, which will be held at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, September 26, will bring together leading policymakers and practitioners to discuss how to tackle the problems posed by weapons, alcohol and violence.

Among the key speakers at the event will be Kenny MacAskill MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice. Mr MacAskill recently pledged to crack down on alcohol related violence across Scotland.

Also speaking will be Jack Law of Alcohol Focus Scotland, Wullie Caie of the Glasgow-based Alcohol Action Group and Chief Superintendent Andrew Laing of Fife Constabulary.

The conference marks the start of this year’s anti violence campaign, co-ordinated by the Violence Reduction Unit under the Safer Scotland banner.

The campaign will focus on encouraging communities to work together with the police to make our streets safer. This will be driven by linking up with community based organisations to deliver initiatives on

• Knives (Communities Against Knives initiative)
• Alcohol (Communities Against Alcohol Fuelled Violence initiative)
• Group or gang violence (Communities Working With Collective Violence)

There will also be a drive to engage and empower parents to take action to prevent violence.  The campaign will run from September 2007 – March 2008.