NewSerious Violence Duty - Building a Whole-Systems Approach to Reducing Serious Violence

Andrew Boyd

A retired Police Chief Superintendent Andrew Boyd is currently an Associate Leadership Trainer with the UK College of Policing designing and delivering leadership and strategic management training nationally and internationally. A qualified trainer with an MBA Andrew has worked across the globe delivering training in Leadership, Strategic Management, Change and Project Management and Executive Coaching.

Andrew has considerable experience in leading transformational change and project management within policing and community safety leading a number of strategic change programmes including the development of a new strategic governance department for Thames Valley Police. He continues to drive change and innovation within Policing undertaking peer reviews of police forces in England and Wales on behalf of the College of Policing in order to identify potential enhancements to efficiency and effectiveness.

With over 32 years of policing experience, Andrew has considerable experience of both strategic and operational leadership. He was the Head of Neighbourhood Policing and Partnerships within Thames Valley Police leading and developing strategic partnerships across the Thames Valley. An acknowledged lead on building social capital and community resilience Andrew has worked with a range of community and voluntary organisations to build safer and stronger communities and has presented at a number of national and international conferences on community safety and Neighbourhood Policing.

Andrew contributed to the establishment of the Violence Reduction Unit in the Thames Valley and became the Head of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice working with strategic partners to develop new and innovative approaches to reduce and prevent serious violence. Establishing a whole systems approach Andrew worked with academia and partners to identify and implement programmes that were evidence-based to tackle the drivers of serious violence and work with the community and voluntary sector to support and deter young people from becoming involved.

Andrew has an ILM Level 7 in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring, he has designed and delivered Level 7 Executive Coaching programmes for the public and private sector and continues to coach a range of leaders from across the public sector and private industry.

Andrew is a trained youth mentor and now works as volunteer mentoring disadvantaged young people and helping them find a positive pathway in life.

Prof Stan Gilmour FRSA

Stan Gilmour is a Professor of Practice at the University of Keele, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, a Senior Associate Fellow with the Police Foundation (UK), and a subject matter expert with the Scopium social sciences think tank.  He leads on Evidence and Evaluation for the UK Police and Health Working Group, with a similar role for the Hope Collective social action programme. He is a Fellow of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts. 

Stan set-up and led the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit and was a key consultee in developing the Serious Violence Duty. This is a new legal duty that came into effect in January 2023, it requires organisations to collaborate in sharing data to identify local strategic needs and prepare a response strategy that they will commit to in order to reduce and prevent serious violence in their area. 

Following a 30-year career in the police, Stan founded Oxon Advisory - a strategic consultancy, research, and training enterprise.  He now works nationally and internationally as an adviser, consultant, coach, and mentor to NGO’s, transnational security organisations, and governments.  This includes the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), where he is the UK lead for Risk Technology (the technology, analysis, and evidence evaluation required to prevent risks from becoming harms), within the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) where he is a Consultant in Transnational Threats.