Carrying knives 'commonplace' among teens

Areebah, 17 said she thought carrying knives had become "commonplace" among teenagers

Teenagers in Bradford have said they fear the consequences of knife crime are not getting through to their peers.

Students at New College Bradford said carrying blades had become "commonplace" among young people in the city.

The BBC spoke to students in the city after West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin published her crime plan for the region.

Responding to the students views, Alison Lowe, deputy mayor for policing, said a key part of delivering the plan was to listen to young people's concerns.

Areebah, 17, said knives were now "commonplace" and described hearing people talk about them as "something that shouldn't be concerning".

She said on one occasion she had seen had been walking to meet a group of friends when she had seen a group of boys with a blade.

"One of them pulled out a knife to show it to his friends whilst I was walking past," she said.

"Then I noticed they turned around and followed me. I was really afraid in that situation something might go wrong."

She said more needed to be done to remove the "sense of glorification" around knives.

Victor said one of his friends was unable to take his GCSEs after being stabbed

Victor, also 17, said he had not been directly impacted by knife crime, but he had a friend who had been unable to take his GCSEs after he had been stabbed.

He said he did not believe the way those in authority were dealing with knives was "effective" and said he would like to see more done to highlight the "repercussions and consequences of what could happen".

He questioned whether the Deputy Mayor knew how they were going to stop knife crime, saying: "Just saying we are going to stop knife crime isn't enough, we need an actual strategy put in place for it to happen."

Khushi, 17, thinks more "bag checks" could help tackle knife crime in West Yorkshire

Fellow student Amy, 17, said she worried that efforts to tackle knife crime were falling on deaf ears, saying she did not believe those involved "would hear about what the Mayor's saying or what the Mayor is trying to do".

She said: "They'll just think about gangs, they're not thinking about the wider societal impact. They're more thinking about their own safety and protection."

Her friend, 17-year-old Khushi said she while there was information available "it's only there if you openly choose to read about it".

She said more bag checks could help cut the number of people carrying blades.

"If there were implications where people felt they couldn't bring a knife into somewhere it would prevent people from being able to do it so easily," she said.

Amy said she supported actor Idris Elba's suggestion that the points could be removed from some kitchen knives, which she said would mean "the danger of them being used in the streets is much less".

Responding to the students concerns, Lowe said: "[The students] are very wise and understand that the world is a different place than it is for us adults."

Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds, she said she was keen to listen to the region's young people and understand the issue from their point of view.

"Children are being threatened online so children are never safe, they go home to their bedrooms they've got access to social media the threats are coming there they really believe they need to arm themselves to be safe," she said.

She said following a report by the Mayor's Youth Commission "serious violence" had been identified as their "number one priority".

Reducing violence against women and girls and ending road deaths also feature in the crime plan.

Overall crime, excluding fraud, fell by 9% in West Yorkshire in the 12 months up to September 2024.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.