Bradford College students and West Yorkshire Police will join forces to hold an anti gun and knife crime event titled ‘Not in Our City’ on Saturday 3rd April in Centenary Square, Bradford.
The 'Not in Our City' campaign was created, in a bid to raise ‘weapons’ awareness across all ages following a number of high-profile national cases in the media, where young people have been seriously or fatally injured by gun and knife crime incidents.
The event will involve police officers and students talking to members of the public about gun and knife crime. Leaflets will be handed out during the day, featuring information on the police's ‘Think Life Not Knife’ campaign. Students from Bradford College and Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College will work together to help with the event.
West Yorkshire Police's PC Rory Romani, has worked tirelessly on the 'Think Life Not Knife' campaign to raise awareness about the risks of getting involved with weapons and gang culture. PC Romani has visited thousands of children at schools and youth groups across the region, as well as Bradford South NPT and Bradford College, to deliver the ‘Think Life Not Knife’ presentation that has captured the hearts of the nation.
Following the success of a previous campaign ‘Operation Mineral’, PC Romani wanted to take the messages to a wider audience. PC Romani said: “I want to show the people of West Yorkshire - not just the region's young people, the dangers of getting involved with weapons and how seriously the police deal with weapon-related incidents.”
Inspector Kevin Pickles of the Bradford South NPT added: “The event is a great opportunity for officers to have quality, face to face interaction with the communities we serve and will enable police officers to promote this important message.”
Students from both colleges, as well as young offenders from New Hall Prison have created 21 posters that have been made into a calendar. The calendars, as well as CD's will go on sale to raise money to give to charities supporting the Haiti disaster. The students will also be running a colouring competition for young children and will man a table with college materials, personal safety alarms and pens etc.
Bradford College Tutor and Event Co-ordinator, Michelle Greenwood, said: “I believe that the issue of gun, gang and knife culture in our cities should be addressed. I’ve seen one of Rory's presentations before and it gave me the idea to work with him, the Bradford NPT and our students to design a leaflet related to knife crime, which they were very enthusiastic about. This then led to developing the ‘Not In Our City’ event.” Michelle concludes: “I believe that it will be good for young people to be seen working alongside the police to support their community. Hopefully other young people will recognise and respect what the students from Bradford College are trying to do. Bradford College supports the campaign and will continue to work together with the Police to make the district as safe as possible.”
The Bradford College students supporting this project are all enrolled on the Entry Pathways course. The course is for young people aged between 14 to 19, which helps them to progress towards future employment and education.
