99% of young people aged 10 to 29 don’t carry knives, so it’s not a common thing.
Even though it’s not common we know that some young people choose to carry because they perceive that others are too, or because they feel pressure to do so. By coming together with our partners through the Ditch the Blade campaign, we aim to dispel these myths, educate young people on the reality of knife crime and offer support to anyone who may be feeling pressured to carry.
Over the next couple of weeks you may see increased coverage about how we tackle knife crime through our promotion of the Ditch the Blade campaign. By choosing to carry a knife young people put themselves in greater danger as their knife could be used against them and they also face a possible criminal record for carrying it.
Work to educate, inform and enforce on this topic happens every day, by highlighting this topic over the next couple of weeks we hope to encourage conversations in the community, to empower our young people to make the right choice and realise that carrying a knife is not a normal or acceptable thing to do.
If you have a young person in your family you can find advice on how to discuss the topic together, as well as links to support organisations, on our website: https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/police-forces/staffordshire-police/areas/staffordshire-police/campaigns/2021/ditchtheblade/
Information provided by Stafford HIVE