ST HELENS has been forging links with national organisations to tackle knife crime after a series of woundings involving young people led to mounting public concern.

This approach aims to reduce incidents of knife crime by educating young people.

Four schools have already benefited from visits by police, including Penkford School, whose Safer Schools Police Officers delivered awareness workshops, keeping vulnerable pupils away from risk and threat.

Meanwhile, the council’s Youth Offending Service held knife crime intervention sessions for the young people it supports. A nurse clinician from the Royal Liverpool Hospital visited to talk about the dangers and consequences of carrying blades, and his experience of treating related wounds.

Senior council officers have also visited the Ben Kinsella Trust, founded by the family of the 16-year-old who was stabbed to death in Islington, London in 2008, who aim to set up links in the borough.

Police also held two week-long operations and open land searches, in addition to its day-to-day policing.

Local Policing Inspector, Matt Drennan said: "Our commitment to reducing and educating people about knife crime is now part of our daily business, and we work with partners to combat knife crime on a regular basis.

"But we cannot do this alone and everyone has a part to play. We want parents, guardians and schools to help reinforce our message to young people – if you are caught carrying a knife, you are reducing your future prospects.

“We will act on all information provided by our communities.

"A change in the law now means that anyone aged 16 to 17 years of age who is convicted of possessing a knife for a second time automatically receives a detention and training order of at least four months.

“For anyone aged 18 years or over they will receive a prison sentence of at least six months.

“The reason for this is that knives kill and people carrying knives are a threat to our communities."

Cllr Lisa Preston, cabinet member for community safety at St Helens Council, urged families to have more open conversations.

She said: “Many parents believe that their own children would never be at risk of carrying a knife or of being attacked with one, but it is vital that all families have honest and open conversations about knife crime and the awful impact it does have.

“In this way, parents and guardians can help prevent any more tragedies occurring in our borough and I’d urge them to do so.”

Tips for parents and guardians:

· Get started – find a quiet time and a bit of privacy, reassure them

that they can be honest with you, and let them know you’ll support

them without judgement.

· Be a good listener – your child may be reluctant or scared to talk

but be patient and try not to react straight away on what they may

tell you.

· Be positive – let them know that they do have a choice in what they

do, even though it may seem like they don’t. Make them aware that

vast majority of young people don’t carry a knife.

· Use the facts – visit noknivesbetterlives.com for the hard-hitting

facts to inform your conversation.

· Raise the point that walking away from confrontation or a fight is

the braver thing to do. If someone pulls a knife on them, the safest,

wisest thing to do is to walk away.

· Be relatable – encourage them to consider who they’d be affecting if

they get involved in knife crime. How do they think you, their

grandparents or their brothers or sisters will feel if they're

arrested or get hurt?

The facts:

· If you get caught with a knife, even if it was for your own

protection or you were carrying it for someone else, you will be

arrested and prosecuted.

· Getting caught with a knife can mean a prison sentence of up to 5

years - even if it's not used.

· Some young people carry knives to protect themselves and 'keep safe'.

But if you carry a knife you are much more likely to use it and to

get stabbed yourself.

· If someone is injured or killed by a knife in your presence you could

be prosecuted even if it's not you who uses it. You could be sent to

prison for murder in what is referred to as ‘joint enterprise’.

· There is no ‘safe place’ to stab someone. A wound in the arm or the

leg can still be life threatening. Young people have died from wounds

to the leg because an artery was severed. If a knife punctures an

artery you can bleed to death within a minute.

· If you have a criminal record you might not be accepted into a

college or university, get a job, or travel to some countries, like

the USA, Canada or Australia.