Tackling Serious Youth Violence in Leeds: Intensification Month
In February 2024, Leeds launched an intensification month to draw attention to serious knife crime related incidents in the city. With a significant proportion of serious incidents of violence involving young people, a large focal point for the month has been around educating and intervening with young people, schools and parents.
This initiative was spearheaded by the arrival of The Knife Angel (also known as the National Monument Against Violence & Aggression) which was located at the Royal Armouries in Leeds for the entire month of February.
More about the Knife Angel…
The Knife Angel, completed in 2018 by artist Alfie Bradley and the British Ironworks Centre, is a 27 ft tall sculpture formed of over 100,000 knives that were anonymously surrendered by the public or had been seized by police. The sculpture was created to raise awareness of the prevalence of knife crime in the UK and to memorialise those who have lost their lives and/or been affected by the serious consequences of knife crime.
The Knife Angel featured heavily in social media campaigns from many groups in Leeds, including Child Friendly Leeds and Leeds Youth Voice, and received support from local councillors, the West Yorkshire Police and Safer Leeds, among many others.
It’s really inspired us, as young people,
Wania, Member of Youth Parliament for Leeds
to raise awareness in our communities
February saw a huge drive in events, workshops and resources being launched to support the initiative and engage young people in Leeds in the work to prevent Serious Youth Violence, including the launch of Project Shield and promotion of the Fearless campaign.
Project Shield and the Fearless campaign
Project Shield was officially launched at the Knife Angel launch event on the 1st February. Its mission is to enable positive and hopeful conversations with young people, and to deliver a coordinated response to tackling Serious Youth Violence and protecting young people in Leeds.
The launch included a competition that called for children and young people to submit designs for the Project Shield logo, with the winning entry was announced at the closing event of the Knife Angel at the end of the month.
The Crimestoppers Fearless campaign, promotes a website where young people can access non-judgemental information and advice about crime. It provides a safe space to give information about crime 100% anonymously.
Fearless has been widely promoted by Leeds City Council and our partners across the city and is hoped to be a deeply valuable tool in reducing incidents of Serious Youth Violence in the city.
Other events that took place during intensification month…
While the Knife Angel and Project Shield were the face of the intensification month, they represent just some of the many events initiatives and activities that took place across the city during February.
Leeds Youth Alliance…
- The Leeds Youth Alliance is an enhanced youth service in Leeds between LS-TEN, Barca and NCS that works together to achieve a number of goals including: improving mental health and wellbeing; reducing crime and anti-social behaviour; and supporting young people to make good choices and minimise risk taking.
- The LYA alongside the Leeds Youth Service, West Yorkshire Police, Leeds United Football Club, Leeds United Community Foundation and Leeds Rhinos, hosted a day of engagement and intervention for young people from Leeds and Rotherham in February. This event included use of the virtual reality knife crime prevention tool, a football coaching session and attendance at the Leeds vs Rotherham match that day.
In schools…
- A series of Targeted Schools Interventions were hosted at the Knife Angel, with 22 schools in attendance and 312 young people reached, who were specifically identified as being at risk of or involved in serious youth violence. These events received input from the West Yorkshire Police and the Leeds Youth Service, and used virtual reality technology and live-action footage to simulate a young person’s initial encounter with a gang and decision to carry a knife.
- All 44 secondary schools in Leeds were offered resources, workshops and assemblies delivered by Safe Schools Officers to support education around knife crime. Approximately 5000 secondary age children received this input, and around 200 primary school students (in Year 6) received age-appropriate knife crime education.
- A Bitesize Teacher Information Programme has been developed as a resource for teachers to support them in educating their students about the consequences of knife crime. Alongside the resources, the programme hosted a well-received learning session with 23 delegates from 15 schools and settings in Leeds.
Parents…
The West Yorkshire Police, Safe Project and Crimestoppers hosted 6 sessions in February for parents with children at risk of being involved in violent crime. These provided a space for learning and discussion from a partnership perspective and were very well received.
Knife Amnesty…
Between 26th Feb and 1st March, a knife amnesty was announced, calling for people to surrender their knives and weapons at designated drop off points in a push to remove more weapons from the streets and reduce violent crime.
