Education and prevention were the key action points to emerge from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s big debate.
The discussion in Staffordshire County Building featured young people from both sides of the Atlantic, with accounts about the dangers and potential remedies.
The event, hosted by Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis, featured 17 criminology students from US institutions Ball State University and University North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), along with members of the Staffordshire Youth Commission.
Also contributing with powerful and emotional accounts were Alison Cope, whose son was stabbed outside a Birmingham nightclub in 2013, a former convicted gang member Darryl Laycock, Superintendent Ricky Fields and other campaigners from the local community.
Comments from the event were posted on the PCC’s Twitter account, with a series of clips being streamed since the debate – generating plenty of interest and engagement.
Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis hopes the debate has raised awareness of the dangers of knife crime.
‘This was a fascinating evening and I want to thank everyone involved.
‘Whilst knife crime in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is not at the levels we see in some other areas, it is rising. I’m particularly concerned at the increases in younger people found in possession of offensive weapons.
‘The Youth Commission provides the opportunity for young people to play an important part in understanding the growth of this problem and finding ways to educate other young people from carrying offensive weapons.
‘The work is ongoing and the issues raised at the Big Debate will contribute to a wider piece of work across agencies that I will be commissioning shortly. The views from our American delegation were similar in many ways and yet quite different in others.
‘We’ll be considering next steps shortly and I do intend to focus on effort and resources on this growing and potentially dangerous societal issue.’
Alison Cope believes youngsters need to be aware of all consequences.
‘This should seem obvious but there are so many young people sitting in a prison because they’ve picked up a weapon in an argument, they’ve pushed it into somebody’s arm or leg and that person has later died,’ she said.
‘This is why we need education about every single consequence – if they still make the wrong choices after that, then they should go to prison.’
Thursday’s debate formed part of the Staffordshire Youth Commission’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime, one of their key priorities for this year.
Data suggests knife crime remains a major issue nationally, but also locally.
There was a 26 per cent increase in knife crime nationally between June 2016 and June 2017, with a 15.7 per cent rise between April and December last year in Staffordshire alone.
