Confirmed Topics and Speakers
Facilitator
Richard Kendall | Director of the Humber VPP
Richard led the formation of the Humber VPP in 2022 and continues to serve as its director, working with the core membership and partners across the area to coordinate work on preventing serious violence. He has 15 years’ experience of developing and managing partnerships, strategies and funding programmes across a range of policy areas.
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Welcome Address
Jonathan Evison | Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside
Jonathan Evison is the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Humberside Police force area, a role he was re-elected to in 2024. He serves a four-year term of office - the next election is in 2028.
He served as a ward councillor on North Lincolnshire Council for eleven years, was Chair of the Humberside Police and Crime Panel for six years and had other roles within the Council including Ambassador for Steel and Heavy Industry, Vice Chair of Planning, scrutiny chairs and Mayor for two years. He also served his community as a Barton Town Councillor for eighteen years.
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Policing Response to Serious Violence
Chief Constable Chris Todd | Humberside Police
Chief Constable Chris Todd joined Humberside Police in April 2025, having previously held the posts of Assistant Chief Constable and Deputy Chief Constable in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. His policing career has spanned more than 30 years, initially working in Hong Kong in 1990 and then joining West Midlands Police in 1996. He has also worked in roles within the National Crime Agency and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency specialising in multi-agency global investigations into serious and organised crime.
During his career, Mr Todd has obtained a Master's degree in Cybercrime Investigations from the University of Central Lancashire and after delivering the first data science capability for UK policing in West Midlands Police he was asked to take on the National Police Chief Council’s lead for Data Analytics and continues to hold that portfolio.
He is also a Strategic Firearms Commander, Public Order Gold Commander, and CBRN Gold Commander and has policing experience at an Executive Level within the areas of Professional Standards, Intelligence, Counter Corruption, Specialist Operations including Firearms, Public Order and Counter Terrorism.
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Keynote Address
The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP | Minister of State for Policing and Crime Prevention (Home Office)
The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE was appointed Minister of State in the Home Office on 8 July 2024. She was elected as the MP for Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham at the general election in July 2024 and has represented Hull North, as Hull’s first female MP, since May 2005.
Diana was Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2021 until 2024. Under the Labour government between 2005 and 2010 Diana was a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Children, Schools and Families and a government whip.
Between 2010 and 2015 Diana held a number of front bench roles including in the shadow Home Office team. She was named backbencher of the year in 2018 for her work to secure a public inquiry into the NHS contaminated blood scandal.
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Hotspot Policing and Problem Solving: Looking Back and Looking Forward
Det. Superintendent Doug Blackwood | Humberside Police and Community Safety Unit
Doug has been a police officer since 2001 initially in the City of London Police moving to Humberside in 2018. He is a Superintendent in Humberside Police and an accredited Major Crime Senior investigating Officer and is the lead for negotiation in the force. Doug currently manages the Community Safety Unit. This is a force wide unit looking at how we engage better with communities, partners and prevent crime.
In addition, Doug is the staff officer for the National Police Chiefs Council National Residential Burglary portfolio. His interest in Burglary and the wider prevention agenda was formed through being fortunate enough to undertake the Cambridge Evidenced Based policing master’s program which he graduated from in 2019.
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Community Insights into GRIP Hotspot Policing
Dr Nicola O'Leary | Reader in Criminology at the University of Hull
Nicola is an academic and researcher in the fields of victimology, vulnerability, domestic abuse and coercive control. Her research seeks to understand the interpersonal, systemic and cultural dynamics of victimisation and abuse. Recent work has focused on trust and confidence in policing and more specifically, the dual identity of police officers and staff who are victims of domestic abuse and the implications for policing culture and trust and confidence in the police more broadly.
She will be presenting as the Principal Investigator on a Home Office funded research project, titled 'Community Insights into GRIP Hotspot Policing'. The key aim of this project, focused on Humberside, is to answer the question 'Does GRIP Hotspot policing improves community trust and confidence in policing?'. The findings and outcomes of the project will contribute to the national understanding of the vital relationship between the police and the communities they serve.
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New Interventions for 2025/2026 – Focused Deterrence, Young Responders Programme
Pip Betts | Programme Manager at the Humber VPP
The Humber VPP brings together partners from multiple agencies to share understanding and work collaboratively to better understand and prevent serious youth violence in the Humber. With 20 years of partnerships and central government programme funding experience, Pip manages the local VPP programme.
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Emergency Department Navigator Service Insights
Pip Betts | Programme Manager at the Humber VPP
Shona Nicholson and Helen Longstaff | Emergency Department Navigators at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Helen recently retired from Humberside Police mainly working with Sex Offenders, Victims of Sexual Abuse and Family Liaison (Families of those affected by Murder/Manslaughter/Suicide).
Shona has been a qualified nurse for 25 years and has experience as a counsellor. Throughout her career, she has worked across various settings, including general wards, substance misuse clinics, and in New Zealand, specialising in substance misuse treatment. Her expertise also extends to mental health, having worked in ECT and Clozaril clinics.
In addition, Shona has experience in supporting victims and working with perpetrators of domestic and sexual abuse. She has experience working with street sex workers and has provided trauma therapy within CAMHS. More recently, she has contributed to Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) and currently serves as an Emergency Department (ED) navigator.
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Youth-led Research: Addressing the Barriers that Prevent Young People Accessing Positive Activities
Peer Action Collective (Tigers Trust)
The Peer Action Collective (PAC) programme enables young individuals aged 16-25 to enhance the safety and equity of their communities. Supported by funding from the Youth Endowment Fund, the #iwill Fund (a collaboration between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and Co-op, PAC stands as a beacon for young people, guiding them to take charge and encourage change.
Comprising Peer Researchers, Social Action Leads, and Changemakers, PAC pioneers a revolutionary approach. Drawing from their own experiences of violence, young members identify areas for improvement in their neighbourhoods and translate these insights into tangible actions. Their initiatives range from shaping school policies and enhancing local mental health services to co-creating strategies for violence reduction and facilitating youth employment opportunities. Together, they ensure that the voices of young people resonate in addressing issues that impact them directly.
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Humber VPP Data and Analytical Plans for 2025/2026
Ian Robertson | Data and Analysis Manager at the Humber VPP
Donna Hamlett | Partnership Analyst at the Humber VPP
Prior to working in the Humber VPP, Ian worked in analytical and data quality roles. His current interests are use of Public Health approaches, the use of multi-agency data in violence reduction and analytical engagement.
Donna’s background is in Adult Social Care, working in adult safeguarding and quality assurance. Donna has a particular interest in qualitative research, ensuring that the views of people with lived experiences are at the centre of our work.
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The Public Health Approach
Dawn Foster | Director / Founder and Freelance Public Health Consultant at We Do Wellbeing
Dawn founded We Do Wellbeing in 2015 to support people to live happier and healthier lives. Dawn has worked on national projects including the development and roll out of the Violence Prevention and Reduction Education Pathway and Making Every Contact Count (MECC) for Mental Health. Dawn is recognised as a Fellow member of the Royal Society for Public Health and is currently supporting the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) with their work around social prescribing for children and young people.
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Extreme Online Misogyny and How this Links to the Public Health Approach to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
Matthew Temperton | Partnership Delivery Manager at Safer Hull
Matthew has worked for over 13 years for both East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Hull City Council. This has been in Children’s and Families Services as a frontline practitioner and team manager with the last three years working in Community Safety.
He will be presenting around extreme online misogyny and how this links to the public health approach to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The presentation will include some links to extremist ideology, predominantly around the manosphere, but in the context of the push and pull factor of extremist ideology.
