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Youth Violence Reduction Strategy Consultation Do you feel safe in your community? …Between the 5th August and the 14th August 2019 Dudley CVS Children’s, Young People and Families Team engaged 83 young people and Dudley Young Health Champions 5 more young people both male and female aged between 11 and 18 in conversations about feeling safe. Parents and other adults engaged in the process too. The consultations took place during Play Week in Huntingtree and Silver Jubilee Park, at Black Country Wellbeing Hub and with a group of college students studying Public Services at DY1 and the LGBT Group at The What Centre. Play Week B63 and WV14 Two members of the team attended the first two days of play week, the first day was at Huntingtree Park, Halesowen, and the second day at was Silver Jubilee Park. During these two days the team spoke to as many young people aged 11-18 years as possible. They were asked… Do you feel Safe where you live?What things make it Safe? Or could make it safer85% of the young people said that they felt safe where they lived, when asked why? The young people said …. “Everyone knows each other” “Everyone one looks out for each other” “knowing all of my Neighbours” “The area makes me feel safe I have my family around me” “The community is good” “yes don’t really go out I stay in on the Xbox”. 10% of the young people we spoke to said that they didn’t feel safe when asked why? The young people said… “No the things you hear on the news and things you see and hear that are going on in Lye” “No friends where I live” “knife crime and drug Dealers” “keeping the Kids in the house with me” “Not Really Too Many gangs over the park, Smoking drugs” . And 5% of the young people said to that sometimes they felt safe and other times they didn’t feel safe when asked why the young people said … “depends on what is going on in the area at the time” “ish By my school there have been a few kids been took”. What could make the place you live safer? When the young people were asked if they didn’t feel safe what could make it safer for them 95% of them said having more of a police present and PCSOs would help them to feel safer where they lived. 5% of the young people said they would like more events like play week as they are able to find out what is going on in their area and it brings everyone together. Do you have any Fears or Worries about Crime?95% of the young people said they had fears or worries about crime when asked about these the young people said …. “I have fears of been Stabbed” “worried that my brother car might get robbed” “people carrying knifes around with them” “Yes My kids growing up around Lye” “Fear of been kidnapped” “yes knife crime around the area worries me” “All the Gangs around” “Damaged been caused to cars” “Car theft” “Crimes are happen more often” “Been took on my way to school” “Gangs in the park” “People carrying weapons on them”. 5% of the young people said they didn’t have any worries or fears around crime. One young person’s said … ““I don’t watch the news or read newspapers as I don’t want to know what is going on in the area so I don’t have any worries about crime I like to stay in my own bubble. Have you Been Affected by Crime?The Last question we have asked the young people was have they been affected by Crime 75% of the young people spoken to over the two days had been affected by some sort of crime, some of the things the young people told us…. “We have been broken into a few times” “The top of our road someone got shot” “was scared to go to college for a bit after someone got attacked there” “I know people who have been stabbed” “someone has been attacked outside our flat and there was blood still outside for a few days” “our car has been broken into” “our car has been keyed”. But 25% of the young people spoken to hadn’t been affected by crime. One young person’s mom said that they hadn’t been affected by crime but they are seen it happen a lot more in the area they live in from the Facebook page as she follows her local neighbourhood watch, she has seen an increases in motor bikes been stolen, theft anti-social behaviour and car crime, Another young person reported “No we haven’t been affected by crime because the younger know to come to the older if they have any issue and the older will sort it out for them”. 355028530320800Black Country Wellbeing Hub – Gornal DY3 We asked do you feel safe in the area you live in. 8 (36%) Young people felt completely safe in the area they live, 14 (64%) young people felt fairly safe in the area they live and nobody felt unsafe. We then asked what made them feel safe.Many couldn’t articulate why they felt safe, they just did. A few said it was because they had loads of mates and a few said that there were areas where they did feel unsafe but it wasn’t around the Black Country Wellbeing Hub so that made them feel safe there. They shared what made them feel unsafe…“Gangs of people with knives”“People have knives on the Greens, I don’t see that round here”“When I play out I see all these people smoking drugs”“I see people hanging out smoking drugs in gangs”“There are known robberies in the area”Have you ever experienced or been a victim of crime or violence? (The young people seated in the photo had not witnessed crime or violence)82% had either experienced or been a victim of crime or violence, which mainly comprised of witnessing fights. From the examples they gave us we asked What could have stopped it?“I saw loads of lads with baseball bats from The Greens and the Wrenna fighting” what could have stopped this? “The police”, “Their moms” and “one of the groups walking away” were all given as examples, however there was a debate around the last suggestion that actually walking away would just make the situation worse because they would come after you again because you had walked away. What crimes are you aware of?The young people worked in five groups, the crimes that all groups mentioned were rape, murder, drugs, knife crime, drink driving, robbery and stabbing. Other crimes included 2659834212725001st degree murderAnti-social behaviourAssaultBurglarycar jackingChild AbuseClass A drug takingcyber bullyingdangerous drivingdomestic violencedrink drivingdriving on a phoneDrugs / weedFightingfraudGang violencegroominggun crimeharassmenthuman trafficIllegal Immigrationkeeping people hostagekidnapKnife Crimemental abuseMurderNeglectpaedophilesRacismraperobberySexual Abuseshop liftingSmoking in a carStabbingstalkingTerrorismTheftTreasonUnderage sexvandalism2481770-5530850002469515-264541000Out of the crimes are you aware of which happen in your area?The young people felt that all of the crimes above happen in their area apart from StalkingTerrorismNeglectRapeTreasonFirst Degree MurderGun crimeKidnapHuman TraffickingIt is worth acknowledging that within this particular group of young people some have very complicated lives. Nearly half have experienced family members being incarcerated, have parents who are victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse and know of other crimes first hand. Dudley Young Health Champions and Local college students 14 young people and adults met at DY1 on Wednesday 14th August to discuss the impact of social media on our lives and give feedback about crime in their area. During this session we replicated the activities delivered at the Black Country Wellbeing Hub on Monday 12th August. The group were asked to stand on a line that represented how safe they felt in their community from the safest they could feel on the right hand side of the room to the most unsafe on the left. The majority of the group stood close to the safest end of the spectrum. Those who stood here said they felt very safe in their communities and reported this was because they knew lots of people in their neighbourhood who they could rely on and had strong and supportive families. Interestingly those who stood closer to the midway point reported they felt safe some of the time for example in daylight and less safe at night. For some it was the time of year feeling that there was a rise in crime during the winter months when there would be an increase in car theft for example. When asked who if any of the group had experienced violence or crime in the last year 3 of the 14 people shared they had. The first an adult female had been involved in a fight following an argument that had escalated quickly, she said she didn’t think this could have been avoided unless the argument had not broken out at all. The second a young person was involved in a hit and run incident where the driver went into the back of the car they were traveling in, the driver has never been caught. The third was an 18 year old who had witnessed her friend being stabbed at college in June of this year, the young person had managed to push the perpetrator enough to make him fall and saved her friend from further harm. She said that a number of things could have made a difference, greater security in college, builders who stood by and what the situation unfold and people taking concerns more seriously. This young person had been told that the police would want to speak to her and get a statement, she has not yet received a call from them and remains anxious about what they may ask. She also says the victim is fearful as is she as the perpetrator is out and about in the community and is posting threatening messages on social media. There were very few types of crime that were identified over and above those that were listed on Monday (on page 4) of this report. The additional ones were:- Dog fowling Revenge porn Littering Loitering Arson Slander PlagiarismCloning Hate crime Fly tipping Of those listed in full the participants were confident that most crimes have at some point been committed in Dudley but that more serious crime such as murder and gun crime happen infrequently. One young person was able to share with the group that Dudley was the safest place to live, sadly he thought it was in the country not across the Black Country. We were able to clarify this and reassure the group Dudley is one of the safest places to live in the country. Finally we asked if you could share your ideas to reduce crime with decision makers what would you like them to consider? More ‘bobbies’ on the beat Reopen local police stations More PCSO’s Return to neighbourhood police who know their communities and the families who reside in them Key police officers locally who children and young people can identify with and go to if they are in fear, however they also want young people to know that the police have the authority to deal with them if they are committing ASB or other crime. Combat the perception that police do not take action – most of the group had witnessed incidents where police staff on patrol had turned a blind eye.Police staff to contact young people when they say they are going to, one young person registered an interest in volunteering for the Cadets in February, she has received a couple of calls to say staff are on leave, have left or are sick, she is still waiting for information. There is a frustration that every time one participant pass’s Tesco express / Greggs opposite Russell’s Hall Hospital that police officers are there buying foodIt would be good if the police advertised the positive things in Dudley such as the low crime rate and other statistics via social media and not Kit Kats.Link communication and social media to youth platforms such as IZONEMore opportunities for young people to influence policing decisions such as the events leading up to the 2020 vision.More knife amnesty bins placed in discreet locations across the borough so that people know where they are but can place knives in bins without lots of people seeing them, consider places like the high streets and colleges The What Centre: LGBTQA group DY8The five young people who attend the LGBTQA group at the What Centre were asked to complete surveys devised by Public Health and provided the following perspectives.When asked what makes you feel safe in the area you live in the young people said:They choose not to leave their house because of the safety issues they experienceOne young person said that they chose to live in their bedroom rather than venturing out One young person in the DY2 area described their reasoning for staying inside as ‘knowing (Dudley) so well’One also referred to avoiding talking to people they considered to be ‘Creeps’Alarmingly one young person said that they felt safe when people were not ‘shooting each other’When asked what could be done in their area to help keep it safe they said:More policePolice Tackling domestic disputes more oftenLGBT and Transgender awareness raising More CCTV cameras When asked what their concerns were they said:Drug related CrimeDrunk people shouting at each other in the early hours of the morningOne young person said they had been advised of ‘a plot to kill me because I am Trans’Another young person said that a member of their extended family had threatened to kill themWhen asked if they had experienced any crime or violence in the last six months they referred to the experiences mentioned above and following: One young person cited experiences of being shouted at outside school, being called their birth name despite being known by a different name and laughing at them when they tried to explain their pronounsOne young person mentioned being aware of young people smoking cannabis in the local park (DY3)One young person said that they had been shouted at by drunk people Overall for this group of young people what seems apparent is that their experiences of safety, violence or crime were very much connected to their lifestyle choices in terms of sexuality or how they described their gender. Whilst none of them cited they had received physical assaults there was clearly some level of threat and verbal assaults which in turn had led to them making choices to stay within the confines of their own home.Report prepared by staff members from the Children’s Team at CVS and Dudley Young Health Champion Co-Ordinator August 2019 ................
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