Police to roll out new knife crime approach later this year
It's hoped to improve understanding of influences and circumstances of young children at risk of criminality
Efforts to combat knife crime in Wiltshire are to take a step forward later this year as Police introduce what it calls a child psychologist approach.
The step was revealed by Superintendent Mike Vass, who is the Force's Knife Crime Lead, during a Facebook Live session, alongside Chief Constable, Catherine Roper, during which the pair discussed pre-submitted questions on knife crime.
Among the questions was how local officers had responded in the wake of the death of 16-year-old Shayne Hamakachere in January this year. A 16-year-old is currently on trial accused of his murder.
Supt. Vass explained that a "child-centred and trauma-informed" approach is key to supporting families and caregivers in communities.
He said: "Every community has its own needs, but it's about how do we work with communities? How do we work with our partners all together as a community partnership to prevent, educate, deter and conduct that long term problem solving?"
Working in partnership with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), there are a number of programmes that have had success in supporting young people including Synergy, Blunt Truth, Premier League Kicks and Diverse IT.
"What we now want to do and we have to do with those partners and with communities is build upon them so that we can identify more persons at risk, those that potentially cause risk, and how we can prevent the problem from manifesting in the first place," Supt Vass said.
He then revealed that the new approach would be introduced later this year and put a focus on the environment of a young person.
It will help answer questions such as what the influences are, where are the risks and provide police, its partners and communities with a better understanding of those circumstances and how harm can be prevented.
"Things such as focus deterrent and step-down intervention is all about that longer-term problem solving and risk management to really protect the children and young people, those future generations, This needs this whole system approach of all of us, including our partners and our communities, working together, not against but together, to solve these really, really concerning and difficult to solve problems," Supt Vass said.
While it is a step forward, he stressed that knife crime remains a complex and difficult matter to tackle.