Blueprint for tackling knife crime launched
A tough new blueprint for tackling knife crime in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire has been unveiled.
The Knife Crime Strategy 2018 is a pan-agency agreement, led by Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping, setting out an ambitious plan of action to tackle one of Britain's most serious threats to public safety.
The strategy will see partners working together with the voluntary sector to tackle every aspect of knife violence with a strong emphasis on education, early intervention and youth engagement.
There are four key areas of work:
• Identification and management of risk: Identifying those at risk of becoming perpetrators or victims of knife crime and managing these risks with diversion and enforcement.
• Developing resilient spaces: Making it harder for offenders to carry and use knives in public spaces by robust enforcement, particularly in the night-time economy.
• Communication and behaviour change: Ensuring clear messages are delivered and promoting alternative lifestyle options.
• Communities and the third sector: Working with the community and wider partners to build resilient neighbourhoods and tackle both the immediate and long-term impact of knife crime.
Launching the strategy, Mr Tipping said: "Knife crime poses a serious risk to young people today and it is imperative we act now to break down the false attitudes and ideas that convince some that violence is acceptable.
"Offenders need to respect the repercussions of carrying a knife in a public place which is why this strategy will involve robust enforcement, especially in our pubs and nightclubs. But they also need to be supported and encouraged to take a new direction and lead more productive lives which this strategy will also deliver.
"We all have a role to play, not just the agencies signed up to this strategy, and we will be making sure parents, youth workers, charities and the wider community understand their responsibilities fully and play a pivotal role in solving this national problem locally."
Nottinghamshire's Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: "We need to focus on early intervention, with all the partners working together, to get upstream of the problem. And by early I mean early, which is why we have officers going into schools to talk to students who've not yet made choices about who or what they want to be when they're older.
"It's important that we capture the teachable moments in young peoples' lives, when we really can make a difference to how they view the world and the place they want to take in it.
"I also want to ensure that our criminal justice processes are as efficient as we can possibly make them to speed up the whole process, including decisions from the court. Carrying a knife, using a knife to harm someone, has consequences and it's time people learned that they will be arrested, they will be charged and they will have a lengthy sentence."
