The Violence Reduction Unit’s (VRU) work in tackling violence has been recognised by a special award from a leading think tank.

The award, from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), was in recognition of the Unit’s groundbreaking violence prevention work. The citation mentioned in particular the work carried out through the VRU’s CIRV (Community Initiative to Reduce Violence) project, a multi-agency initiative aimed at tackling gang violence in Glasgow’s East End.

It is the first time the CSJ, an independent think tank established by Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP in 2004 to seek effective solutions to the poverty, has presented such an award. The independent judging panel heralded the Unit’s work as “an excellent example of the public sector working alongside the voluntary sector”.

The honour follows the publication earlier this year of the think tank’s report Dying to Belong: An in-depth review of Street Gangs in Great Britain, which singled out the work of the VRU for praise.

Unit co-directors Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan and Karyn McCluskey were presented with the award by Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes at a special ceremony in London last night.

On receiving the award, DCS Carnochan said:

It is great to be here among so many people who are doing so many good things for their community. Violence is a wicked problem that affects all of us, no matter who we are, no matter where we live. To tackle it, we need leadership that is brave, resilient and aspires to great things. More importantly, we need the kind of consensus that is being supported by the work of the Centre for Social Justice. Tackling violence is not something that should divide people along political or social lines. It’s not about who’s right, it’s about what’s right.”