This year's Knife Crime Awareness Week (19–25 May) sees schools, colleges, and youth clubs across Warwickshire joining forces to shine a spotlight on the growing issue of knife crime and its impact on young people.

To do so, virtual reality (VR) sessions are being used to highlight the real-life consequences of carrying a knife.

The 'Virtual Decisions: Knives' sessions have been delivered to over 2,000 young people countywide by trained staff from Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council (NBBC) Community Safety, Stratford District Council (SDC) Community Safety, Warwickshire County Council (WCC) Community Safety, Warwickshire Police staff and others.

The sessions, which include a ten-minute VR experience and real-life workshop, help young people explore the reasons for and potential consequences of carrying a knife, and are funded by Home Office Serious Violence Duty funding and supported by the Safer Warwickshire Partnership Board.

Warwickshire County Council's Executive Director for Communities, Mark Ryder, said: "It's fantastic that over two thousand young people in Warwickshire have participated in these innovative knife crime awareness sessions to date, and that we've received great feedback.

"We've used Home Office funding to target the serious issue of knife crime in Warwickshire, collaborating with schools, colleges, youth clubs, and young people to try to prevent it for everyone's benefit.

"These thought-provoking workshops and the strong link between Warwickshire's community safety partners and schools demonstrate the county's child-friendly ambition to keep children and young people safe.

"We are looking to commit some of this year's Serious Violence funding allocation to continue the VR sessions across the county."

'Virtual Decisions: KNIVES' places participants in the role of a young person making choices that lead to various outcomes, including potential arrest for possessing a blade.

The VR experience is followed by a workshop to unpack themes and discuss outcomes. Topics include peer pressure, social media, loyalty, 'snitching', knife laws, the reasons for carrying a knife, consequences, and community impact.

Schools, colleges, youth clubs and other education providers have praised the sessions for being 'well-targeted' and 'a breath of fresh air'.

North Warwickshire & South Leicestershire College said the sessions it hosted "created a buzz amongst our students" and "captivated and engaged them throughout."

"The VR experience proved very emotive for our learners and has sparked conversation within lessons.

"It gave our learners more to think about it in terms of the wider impact knife crime has on relationships, families and communities."

Young people taking part in the sessions have been complimentary too, with one saying: "I thought that the knife crime awareness workshop was very good as we got told true stories, and how one knife crime incident can spread amongst so many people and impact them for the rest of their lives.

"I also thought that the VR film was very useful because it again was a real-world scenario.

"I now feel more confident in what to do if I ever ended up in a scenario like that, or if I knew someone who could potentially be at risk, I would be able to help them more."

Another young person said it was a "great experience" and "very helpful to show people how fast little arguments escalate. You also see how intense things can get even if you just carry a knife for 'protection".

"It was a very realistic scenario vividly highlighting the outcomes and consequences for knife crime."

In Nuneaton and Bedworth, the borough council have dedicated their Serious Violence funding to a borough-wide intervention with young people, and in Rugby borough, the project has been integrated with Warwickshire Police's Operation Sceptre to tackle knife crime.

Across other parts of the county, the project has been delivered at schools, youth clubs and other educational and non-educational settings.

Tackling knife crime is a priority for Warwickshire's Youth Council, and the recent youth conference featured a VR workshop and discussion about this issue and what young people can do to support each other. 

Inspector Ryan Walker from Warwickshire Police said: "These sessions play a vital part in helping children understand the consequences of carrying a knife. 

"Unfortunately, we continue to see these consequences in Warwickshire and across the country."

He added that this is just one of a range of activities taking place during the week, which aims to raise awareness for the dangers of carrying a knife. 

"Our key message throughout the week is that we all have a role to play in tackling the problem of knife crime by reporting any concerns we have about someone carrying a weapon. 

"The information you provide will allow us to intervene and could potentially save a life" added Walker. 

He went on to urge individuals to make the right decision, should they know of someone carrying a knife. 

For more information on how to report concerns about someone carrying a knife , visit Operation Talkative | Warwickshire Police.