Today the ‘Who’s Next?’ Campaign community launches its ‘Tackling Youth Knife Crime Together: Community Action Plan’, featuring candid insights and experiences of people directly impacted by knife crime: perpetrators, victims, family members, educators, and frontline police personnel.
Developed in collaboration with over 15 partner organisations, the Community Action Plan presents a two-year pilot programme featuring innovative, community-driven initiatives designed to reduce youth violence at a grassroots level across Hackney and Newham.
The research outlines five major proposals intended to be actioned during the pilot:
Creating coordinated networks between charities and youth support services operating across similar locations
Implementing supplementary education programmes with “real-world skills”
Establishing Community Awareness & Action Groups (CAAGs) with police involvement
Providing guidance to help youth centres become more financially self-sufficient and commercially minded
Offering professional training on gang grooming and county lines exploitation to public sector professionals
The campaign draws on insights from a range of individuals impacted by knife crime, offering a comprehensive understanding of the issue from multiple perspectives:
“The rate of senseless violence continues to rise, so it is time we change our approach – just recently a young man was stabbed to death in our local area in Hackney, causing devastation to an untold number of lives,” said Andrew Pritchard, Founder, AP Foundation.
Manisha Knights, Solicitor Advocate and Managing Director at MK Law added: “In the past three months, two of our young clients have lost their lives to knife crime and we are currently representing several more for allegations of murder and attempted murder – the Old Bailey is full of young people accused of murder.”
Metropolitan Police Sergeant of a Safer Neighbourhood Team based in Hackney: “It feels like there is a lost opportunity to have a vessel between officers like me, officers in line management, and community leaders…”
