Knives Ruin Lives - Make The Right Choice
24 Mar 2009
A major awareness campaign to inform secondary school pupils about the dangers of knife crime has been rolled out across Northern Ireland.
The KNIVES RUIN LIVES campaign is aimed at 12 to 13 year olds and has been developed by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Youth Justice Agency and Crimestoppers.
Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins believes that the awareness campaign, which features a specially tailored educational drama called Choices and literature on knife crime sent to every post primary School in Northern Ireland, will bring home to young people the real dangers of carrying a knife.
Paul Goggins said: “This new awareness campaign is designed to highlight the dangers of carrying knives and has been rolled out across Northern Ireland.
“We want young people to stop and think before they put a knife in their pocket – we want to make them think about the risks involved in carrying a knife and that someone, very likely themselves may get hurt.
“I hope it will help them to make the right choice. If they know that someone has a knife they should speak to a teacher if they are in school, or tell their parents and contact the police. They could be helping to save a life.
“Knife crime represents less than one percent of all recorded offences in Northern Ireland and we want to want to work with young people to make sure that it does not become a major problem.”
Speaking at the launch of the Schools Project, Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland said: "This is an extremely important issue that we are tackling through the drama. Our aim is to educate young people about the dangers of carrying a knife and if they know someone who carries a knife who they should tell.
"We have been working closely with the production company, NIO, Crimestoppers and the Youth Justice Agency in the creation of the 'choices' drama. It is an extremely powerful play and I hope that anyone who sees it will think twice before they carry a knife.
"Many of our young people think it is acceptable to carry a knife. For many of them, a knife is a status symbol, something that makes them more acceptable to their peers.
"We need the support of teachers, parents and everyone within the local communities to stop the issue of knife crime. Knives ruin lives, never carry a knife."
The drama will have a crime prevention theme around the possession of knives; the consequences for friends and families; and the problems that arise. The main focus is to inform young people that if they know something about knife crime, they should tell and to let them know how to do this – either by contacting PSNI 0845 600 8000 or by calling the anonymous Crimestoppers number 0800 555 111.
