The Member of Parliament for Burton, Kate Kniveton, has convened a further roundtable of experts and key community leaders to share updates on progress being made to tackle knife and violent crime locally.
Those who joined the local MP were Chief Inspector Clair Langley from Staffordshire Police; Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Ben Adams; Mark Rizk and Michael Rovers from East Staffordshire Borough Council; Founder of the Street Whyze project, Danny Mondesir and Katie Johnson and Sarah Evans from the Burton Albion Community Trust.
Following a spate of knife crimes on the Staffordshire and Derbyshire border, the group met earlier this year for the first time with the key objective of tackling knife crime and addressing the underlying causes that may lead to someone choosing to carry a knife.
As part of the meeting, Staffordshire’s PFCC, Ben Adams, updated the group saying that his team had secured further funding for Burton on Trent to instal new mobile CCTV cameras and new outreach work.
Danny from Street Whyze informed those present that he was working with local secondary schools and engaging with pupils about the dangers of carrying knives.
Following an update from police in East Staffordshire, Ms Kniveton committed to speaking with the Policing Minister to raise local resourcing pressures and additional support for the delivery of projects to improve the safety of women and girls in the community.
The group agreed to meet again early in the new year to report back on further work on this issue.
Commenting, Kate Kniveton MP said:
“I am grateful to everyone who attended today’s roundtable meeting on tacking knife and violent crime in Burton.
“As I mentioned at the meeting of the first roundtable, there is no silver bullet to tackling knife crime but the progress and commitment amongst everyone in attendance today to do something about this issue, is encouraging.
“This scourge on our society must be eradicated and we are all clear that this can only be achieved if all parts of our community come together. We will continue to work together to tackle this issue and ensure safer streets in Burton.”
