Avon and Somerset Police: Knife crime needs 'new way forward'

Eye for an Eye explores how we all have a choice about whether or not to carry a knife

A police force has said "we will never police our way out of knife crime" as it highlighted the importance of school and community engagement.

Four schools across Bristol, Weston-Super-Mare and Taunton took part in an animation competition to engage young people in the issue.

Taunton Academy was announced as the winner after receiving the most views.

It comes as a week-long operation to tackle knife crime saw 25 knives seized in the Avon and Somerset force area.

Operation Sceptre, which is a national initiative, aims to reduce the number of people carrying knives through targeted police operations and educating young people on the consequences of knife crime.

The Speak Up video, created by Broadoak Academy, explores the guilt suffered by a friend who wanted to tell someone about his friend carrying a knife, but didn’t

Supt James Raphael, Avon and Somerset Police lead for serious violence, said: "We will never police our way out of knife crime, but there is always a place for strong enforcement action to complement our diversionary and intervention work."

He added local police teams are working hard in their communities, acting on intelligence to arrest violent criminals and to take weapons off the streets.

Over the last 12 months the force has been working on the school campaign 'Knife crime: A new way forward' which it says puts young people at the heart of helping officers understand and tackle knife crime.

Pupils from Futures Academy in east Bristol, Merchants Academy in south Bristol, Broadoak Academy in Weston-super-Mare and Taunton Academy were challenged to come up with animated films which have since been shared on social media.

The Lifeb4Likes video, by Merchants Academy, explores the dangerous world of putting social media popularity before another human’s life

The films were created alongside student animators at the University of the West of England.

The film with the most views on YouTube was 'Eye for an Eye', produced by year 10 pupils from Taunton Academy.

Emma Smith, head of year 10, said: "It's been an extremely positive experience.

"The workshops that they've been involved in and the wider discussions we've been able to have as a result have definitely made it easier for students to come to talk to us about these issues, and to ask for advice."

The Cycle, by Bristol Futures Academy, looks at the retaliatory nature of knife crime and calls for all agencies in Bristol to come together to help break this cycle

In the Avon and Somerset force area there was a 31% increase in the number of knife possession offences from 405 in 2018 to 529 in 2019.

A police spokesperson said the rise can in part be attributed to the fact they have created a dedicated team of police officers who focus solely on tackling knife crime, drugs and burglary.

This year knife possession offences have decreased by 18% from January to October, from 445 in 2019 to 364, with the impact of the pandemic seen as a contributing factor.

The force added that while knife crime is a high profile topic with many incidents involving young people, in reality 99% of young people do not carry knives, and cases are usually isolated incidents between people who know each other.