KNIFE EDUCATION PACK ROLLS OUT ACROSS REGION

Diigo

Hard-hitting knife crime education pack 'Tooled Up for School' is rolling out across the midlands with a ‘Tooled Up?’ tour of local schools throughout October and November. Details about local ‘tooled up’ events are being issued separately as they come up throughout the autumn and winter months.

'Tooled Up for School', which launched during the start of the ‘one knife one life’ campaign in April, features a thought-provoking DVD film about a fictional fatal stabbing in a school. It also shows a documentary, which features powerful interviews with the family and friends of serious knife-attack victims (Charlotte Polius, Luke Walmsely and Kieran Rodney-Davis).

The pack is combined with a music video which highlights the devastating effects weapons can have in schools and for young people. The music track is performed by local Birmingham rap artist ‘The Witness’ and features local soul singers. At some schools, ‘The Witness’ is booked to perform live before officers deliver their input.

Chief Superintendent Gordon Scobbie, lead for the forcewide knife campaign, said: “We all want to make it culturally unacceptable to carry a knife. The education initiative is a crucial and major part of the force’s ongoing ‘one knife one life’ campaign as well as our overall strategy to tackle violent crime.

“We want everyone in that key age range of 11 to 16 to receive education about knife crime and to fully comprehend the seriousness of the situation.

“This innovative resource is already proven to engage children effectively, to get them thinking and talking about this important issue. We are now rolling the scheme out across the whole of the West Midlands. We have high hopes that it will make a real difference to local community safety and help to reduce the numbers of young people carrying knives and offensive weapons.”

The resource was introduced to specialists at the Education Show at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in March and was shared by the Home Office as best practice with police forces nationally ready for the national knife amnesty.

Samples of the music track and video were sent to young people through ‘viral’ (Internet) marketing and as phone messages during the launch of ‘one knife one life’.

Diigo