A Weapons Awareness session took place at the Youth Justice Centre (YJC) on Saturday the 22 September 2018. This was an additional YJC session and run to coincide with Op Sceptre – the national knife crime awareness campaign.
The YJC is run every other Saturday morning by members of staff from Swindon Youth Offending Team (YOT). The majority of young people who attend the YJC have to attend as part of a Rehabilitation Order however case managers at YOT can ask for any young person they are working with to attend if it is felt that the session being run would be of benefit to them. The YJC has recently run sessions with Street Doctors and U-turn (substance misuse).
PC Fiona Buchanan from Restorative Youth Services led the session “During the weapons awareness session we discussed the reasons why some young people carry weapons, the definition of a weapon (made, adapted and intended), the legal consequences of having a knife in public/using it and the health consequences.
“We talked about the fact that if a young person carries a knife it makes them more likely to get stabbed themselves and that 70 per cent of young people who attend A & E in relation to a knife injury have actually been stabbed with their own knife.
“The group were really engaged with the session and we went on to share advice on what you should do and the first aid you should give if you are with someone who gets stabbed or come across someone who has been injured.
“Of course, we hope that these young people are never in such a situation but having attended this session they can understand better the reality of knife crime and have tools to help prevent them from being involved.”
If young people are worried about knife crime they can contact Fearless.org. This site gives information about different types of crimes and where to access further information, advice, help or support.
Young people can also pass information anonymously to Fearless via on line reporting (Fearless is the equivalent of Crimestoppers for young people).
Go to Fearless.org to find out more.
If you have information about someone who may be involved in knife crime please call Wiltshire Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers 0800 555 111.
