South Yorkshire's PCC eager to build more trust with youngsters in local communities
Dr Alan Billings has been speaking to us as part of our week-long investigation into knife crime
South Yorkshire's Police & Crime Commissioner tells us 'There's a need' to build more trust with young people across local communities.
All this week we've been looking at the issue of violent crime in the region and statistics we've been given from South Yorkshire Police show the number of children under 11 arrested on suspicion of carrying a knife went up by 13% last year.
Dr Alan Billings has been speaking to us as part of our Say No To Knives investigation:
"We find that where young people do get involved in knife crime, it's not uncommon to find that the blade used to hurt them is the one that they originally brought to the scene.
"So, the lesson here is not to carry a knife.
"I think there are some good interventions in schools.
"Some individuals have got 'lived experience' from their younger days, who can come and talk to younger people in a sensible way that doesn't frighten them.
"It can also enable the youngsters they interact with to see that they don't have to follow a similar path."
Meanwhile, South Yorkshire Police have been carrying out public land searches this week in an effort to get more weapons off the streets:
Detective Superintendent Dave Cowley is the force lead for knife crime at South Yorkshire Police:
"This is a real problem in South Yorkshire, and we want to tackle it.
"It's not something the police can do alone; we need help from the public to support us in that goal really.
"We have specially trained search teams who do target areas where knives are often hidden.
"People don't always carry them in person; sometimes these weapons are placed in public areas for access at a later time.
"Hospital admissions across South Yorkshire for knife wounds have gone down 5% this year.
"Hospital admissions across South Yorkshire for knife wounds for under 25's have gone down by 12%, so we're making some progress.
"Overall, it's still a higher percentage rate than I'd like it to be."