Source: Home Office
Published Wednesday, 22 October, 2008 - 08:56
An extra £3 million to keep young people safe in the ten Tackling Knives Action Programmed police forces was announced today by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, as part of the Government's wider action on youth crime.
Earlier this year, the Home Secretary outlined plans to focus a programmed of action on knife crime and announced an initial investment of £2 million. The ten areas taking part in the Tackling Knives Action Programmed are London, Essex, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, South Wales and Thames Valley.
Today's new money will go towards rolling out:
* After-school patrols: a visible police presence on the routes to and from schools;
* Safer School Partnerships: a dedicated police officer allocated to a school or group of schools to promote safety and work with young people at risk of victimization, offending, poor behavior or attendance; and
* Operation Stay safe: police using safeguarding laws to remove young people at risk from the streets at night and take them to a place of safety.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"With the clocks going back and the nights drawing in, it is particularly important that young people feel safer walking home from school.
"With more police officers patrolling your streets, we are emphasizing our core message that young people do not need to carry a knife for protection - it makes you less safe, not more - and these additional police are there to help protect you."
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said:
"Schools are one of the places that young people feel the safest and fortunately knife crime inside schools is incredibly rare. This announcement will make sure schools remain the safe haven they have always been, preventing young people from being drawn into knife crime outside the school gate.
"We know that prevention is the best form of action in stopping young people from getting involved in bad behavior in the first place. By helping the ten priority areas in establishing Safer School Partnerships, police and schools can work together to educate and inform young people about their responsibilities to be law-abiding citizens.
"The Government cannot tackle youth crime alone, but by providing support to communities and by listening to young people themselves, we can all contribute to developing solutions in our effort to deter young people from getting involved in crime."
Head of the Tackling Knives Action Programmed and the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on knife crime, DAC Alf Hitchcock said:
"Young people tell us that the period after school can be when conflicts arise between different groups and an increase in police presence and in other visible signs of authority can help them be and feel safe and secure.
"This additional funding will assist the ten Tackling Knives Action Programmed forces in further building on the tough approach towards those who carry knives which ACPO is leading across the police service."
The £100 million for the Youth Crime Action Plan, published in July, is also increasing after-school patrols, Safer School Partnerships and Operation Stay safe more widely across the country.
