It Doesn’t Have To Happen

Police forces in the ten areas taking part in the programme have also increased their work in engaging with young people and have begun to prepare educational packs for schools and organise events to warn young people of the danger of carrying knives. The ten areas are London, Essex, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, South Wales and Thames Valley.  The programme, which will run until March 2009, is delivering tough enforcement combined with education, prevention work and information campaigns designed to keep young people on the right track.

I was following some links to news around knife crime going back last month, and in an article entitled ‘Is Knife Crime Really Increasing?” I found a few interesting points:

“One of the difficulties we are having in interpreting what’s happening is the alarm that appears to be focused on this instrument itself [knives] instead of looking at the causes and locations of the violence.
“Young people in poor areas and who have been victimised tend to carry knives more often - it’s about a fear of what might happen.”

Prof Sharp said 20 years ago people in Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool would not have found about about knife crimes in London - and vice versa.
“News took longer to get into the public domain and tended to have different focus,” he said.

Read more here.