November 11, 2024. Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, News, Oxfordshire
Parents and carers offered free online knife crime education sessions as national week of action and knife amnesty launches
Parents across the Thames Valley are being offered free, online information sessions to raise awareness of the risks of knife crime and help them to support their children to stay safe.
Two online sessions are being offered and are delivered by the leading anti-knife crime charity The Ben Kinsella Trust.
The sessions explore the different risk factors that can lead to a young person carrying a weapon or being drawn into violence. They aim to raise awareness by exploring issues such as child exploitation, county drug lines, the impact of online harm and how fear and not knowing who to ask for help that can drive someone to pick up a knife.
Each session promotes the “Stay True to You” campaign, which was launched in May. This promotes a positive approach to helping young people make their own choices, encouraging them to plan ahead, to trust their instincts and to ask for help from any adult they trust.
The sessions are free to attend and can be accessed online via a phone or computer. Advance registration is now open via the website: www.staytruetoyou.co.uk/parents or use the following links:
Thames Valley Police is also promoting the availability of knife amnesty bins across the force area as safe places to dispose of weapons, with no questions asked and no details taken. For information on the locations of bins, visit the Thames Valley Police website.
Jules Bottazzi, Director of Strategy & Performance, Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner, said:
“Knife crime is a huge concern for many parents and we have been working to help raise awareness of the issues so that together we can help keep young people safe.
“We’ve partnered with the leading national charity The Ben Kinsella Trust to deliver these sessions for some months, with hundreds of parents benefiting to date and many leaving fantastic feedback.
“We want to encourage as many parents as possible to take the time to join one of these sessions wherever they can.”
