Suffolk Police crackdown on knife crime as part of national initiative
The week-long campaign will focus on tackling knife crime
Suffolk Police is cracking down on knife crime in the county this week as part of a wider national initiative.
Inspector Matthew Paisley told us more about what the week involves: "(There is) a lot of work around youth engagement, finding out why people feel they have to resort to carry knives.
"And then that carries through the spectrum of engagement, through to enforcement and action around habitual knife carriers.
"And even working with businesses to look at whose purchasing knives, not just your shop fronts, but also online retailers as well.
"So it carries a covers, a myriad of opportunities for us to work with partner agencies, work with communities, work with schools to try and pay, highlight the risks in the right way."
He told us the impact of knife crime goes beyond one action: "It's not just the victim, but you know any. When people think about knife crime, they think about the impact on the victim, which obviously in the worst case scenario is death.
"With knife crime, the victims, are actually a lot wider than that as well.
"Particularly with the young person, if a young person who's caught carrying a knife or using a knife. The victims spread further (than them.)
"It's the actual victims family. It's the impact on the family of the person carrying the knife.
"It's the impact on the community that they live within and it's the wider impact on social safety. So the education piece is not just talking about the criminal side of it.
"If you've got caught with a knife, you're ultimately looking at a prison term at some point.
"(However) It's not just that message, it's more about.
"Why is there a need for young person to carry a knife? Why is there a need for somebody to feel their safeties violated and that for they're in fear that they have to carry that knife?
"Why do they feel they're carrying the knife brings them a higher level of respect?
"Why do they feel the necessity to show strength and power through carrying the weapon and then also linking back to the wider societal picture?
"So the risks your running, carrying that knife to ruining the rest of your life.
"Once you've got a conviction, the doors closes, further on down the line, in terms of your own and career aspirations, education, aspirations. And then the knock on effect to those around you."
Community engagement
"We've got a number of knife bins across the county, all of them are there permanent. They're there to be used."
He also acknowledged that many people may feel uncomfortable talking to the police, which is why partnerships in this campaign are important in breaking that potential barrier.
"So sometimes the uniform could be a barrier for us getting the right message across.
"Because sometimes people don't want to listen to what the uniforms saying.
"Some people are suspicious of uniforms because they think that we're just there to enforce and that's where partnerships are really crucial for us. And having our partners deliver key messages particularly.
"If you follow our messaging and and hopefully people understand it and are willing to talk to us about it."
Inspector Matthew Paisley, told us what he hopes to achieve with the campaign: "The main goal for me is that young people don't carry knives and that's the biggest thing.
"If we can stop one person taking a knife out on the street, then that's one person that potentially isn't gonna get stabbed.
"But it's the recognition from the public that Knife crime remains very much important to us as a police service.
"That we've demonstrated that through engagement. We'll demonstrate that through productivity.
"Charging people that we have intelligence to suggest that carry knives.
"We've put up a higher emphasis on it with educated people around our concerns.
"Largely, we're here to help and we want to talk to people about this subject and we want people to come forward and be brave and come forward and talk to us and share their experiences and share their intelligence with us."