Schools across England are to receive dedicated support to prevent knife crime incidents in a hyper-targeted Home Office programme that uses mapping technology to identify areas of risk down to the level of specific groups of streets.
Under the £1.2m scheme – part of a series of initiatives launched under a government pledge to halve knife crime within a decade – a maximum of 250 schools will receive help.
The safety in and around schools partnership will identify the schools most in need of assistance using Home Office mapping technology which, the department said, can identify places where knife crime is most prevalent during times when pupils walk to and from schools.
The Home Office said it could identify areas down to 0.1 sq km, or just a small number of streets, allowing police to prioritise specific locations and times where knife offences have taken place in the past.
The assistance will involve training school leaders on the risk of knife crime, and supporting schools more generally on measures to help with child safety. This could involve mentoring for pupils seen as at particular risk, or using chaperones on school routes.
Of the 250 schools, the most intensive support will be targeted at 50 of these in areas with the highest levels of school-linked knife crime. This help could include making sure vulnerable children have a trusted adult they can turn to.
The plan was welcomed by charities that tackle youth knife crime. Jon Yates, the executive director of the Youth Endowment Fund, which works to combat violence among young people, said: “We know what works to prevent knife crime: a trusted adult, someone to talk to, social and emotional support, opportunities like sport.
“This programme, backed by the government, aims to bring that support to more of our schoolchildren.”
However, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, criticised the plan, saying the government had created the risk to children by having too few police officers protecting schools.
He called for ministers to support Conservative plans for a major expansion of police stop and search operations.
The policing minister, Sarah Jones, said: “No child should fear walking to school. That is why we must prevent violence from ever occurring.
“With the right support, the right opportunities and the right interventions in the right places, we can prevent harm long before a young person finds themselves in danger.”
