Knife crime awareness campaign launches in BCP

A major campaign to educate young people on the dangers of knife crime launched last week across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.  

Last week, I attended the launch of a major campaign to educate young people on the dangers of knife crime. 

The Safer BCP partnership has worked together to create the Knife Crime Awareness Campaign, which is a large-scale, first of its kind, multi-agency initiative, which will see a variety of engagement events and activities over the coming weeks, which include theatre workshops, skateboarding events, school activities, live music and much more to engage young people. 

These initiatives will be complemented with resources and support networks to equip parents and carers as well as members of the community with the tools to address and prevent knife-related incidents effectively. 

The campaign will also highlight the collaborative efforts in working to tackle serious violent crime to bring about positive change and contribute to the reduction of knife-related incidents across the BCP area. 

My office, already work alongside multiple partner agencies to tackle serious crime, including Dorset Police, BCP Council, University Hospitals Dorset and many others under the BCP Community Safety Partnership, Safer BCP, all sharing the same commitment to reducing serious violent crime in the BCP area.

While Dorset remains a safe place to live with one of the lowest knife crime rates in the UK, the death of Cameron Hamilton last year, and that of Tom Roberts back in March 2022, show there is still work to be done.

To learn more about the Knife Crime Awareness Campaign, and to access the full list of events and activities taking place throughout, click here.

 

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner

 

*Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables; Office for National Statistics, (25 Jan 2024).