Knife crime campaigner supports Cheshire Police initiative
This comes as Operation Sceptre goes underway
A Staffordshire-based knife crime campaigner and boxing coach has praised Cheshire Police's most recent effort to tackle knife crime.
Operation Sceptre, which began yesterday (17th November) and will continue until Sunday 23rd, aims to tackle knife crime on two fronts.
One part of the programme seeks to educate the public about the dangers of carrying knives, and the second part reminds sellers about the regulations that stop knives from falling into the wrong hands.
MacKenzie John, a boxing coach and anti-knife crime campaigner based in Rugeley, Cannock Chase, said the key to educating the public starts in schools.
John said: "It's young kids, 12 years and onwards.
"It's crazy, really, that kids that young are carrying knives."
John has been involved in raising money for emergency bleed control kits in the past - including in the wake of the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Harleigh Hepworth, who grew up in Staffordshire.
Bleed control kits are designed to help responders manage severe blood loss before emergency services arrive.
These kits contain items such as tourniquets, wound dressing and scissors, as well as basic instructions.
John - who, in the past five years, has narrowly avoided being stabbed three times - says the UK government should be going further to tackle knife crime by funding these emergency kits.