Driving down knife crime

Sceptre is the name of the intensification week when Police Forces across the country focus activity and carry out extra and specific operations, to reduce knife crime.

This year the week took place from 13 November and the VVU played its part in the awareness activity by encouraging our funded projects which work with our more at risk young people to run targeted activities.

Many of the projects ran special sessions on knife harm, leading discussions with young people about risks and consequences. Conversations took place in detached youth work settings, as outreach and within youth club settings.

Activities also took place in after school clubs and within larger school groups, with talks carried out to secondary school pupils on county lines, gangs and carrying a knife.

This activity included using our VVU knife harm films to prompt discussions, including thinking about the role of trusted adults in their lives and the support available to them.

Numbers reached

In total over 90 hours of knife harm conversations took place with approximately 300 young people.  This doesn’t include the work our partners over at the Joint Education Team did presenting to schools across the county, reaching a large number of pupils with prevention advice and information.

From an Essex policing perspective although the work to tackle knife crime is carried out by officers 24-hours a day, seven-days-a-week, Sceptre Week saw a number of specific operations being carried out across the county, including significant work with retailers to educate on the ethical and responsible sale of knives, as well as ensuring retailers are aware of the law around the sale of knives.