Knife Crime Awareness

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:00 in Community Engagement

Tags:

Where: Rumi Centre, 337 Fore Street, London N9 0NU
Date: 06 March 2012
With: Nick de Bois, MP Enfield North
Hazel Nelson Williams, Knife Crime Campaigner
PC Karl Morris, Metropolitan Police

Abstract

‘Last week seven people were stabbed and one person died in South London’, said Nick de Bois, MP for Enfield North. He was one of the speakers at a Knife Crime Awareness event in Edmonton Green, organised in partnership by the Rumi Mosque and Dialogue Centre and Edmonton Methodist Church, with help from a team of four Dialogue Studies MA students currently on a work placement at the Dialogue Society. They facilitated a platform for parents and youngsters to gain knowledge and advice on how to help prevent knife crime. The event addressed the following questions:

How does knife crime affect life in our streets?
What can parents do to protect their children?
How can young people prevent it?

The very well-attended event sent a clear message to the audience, and particularly to the diverse young people who attended the event. They have to become the ambassadors about this topic in their own circle of friends. Invite them to other Knife Crime events. Talk to them and inspire them to join the club of ‘no carrying knives’. Of course, not to forget that parents have also a great responsibility to focus on their role as educators and as role models for their children. The community needs more people like campaigner Hazel Nelson Williams, who spoke at the event, to actively raise awareness about knife crime.

Biography of Nick de Bois

Nick de Bois MP, Member of Parliament for Enfield North, has passed a bill to ensure youth under 18 years are sentenced for using a knife in a threatening or endangering situation. The Conservative party MP sees this as his most important political achievement. He endeavours to prevent further knife crime by working together with local and national groups to raise awareness among target groups.

Biography of Hazel Nelson Williams

Hazel Nelson Williams is a mother of five, and foster mother to two more children. Incensed by the mindless killing of eight young men in Enfield, she became an active campaigner against knife crime and other gang-related violence, founding the Nelson Williams Foundation in 2011. She says of gang violence: “This is a Sickness…a cancer eating away at societies very fabric of existence claiming the most precious commodity we have…that of LIFE ITSELF!” (www.nelsonwilliamsfoundation.com). She frequently runs workshops about knife crime prevention and has been selected as ‘Mum of the Year’ and as ‘Londoner of the Day’.

Biography of PC Karl Morris

He is a serving officer with the Metropolitan Police Service. During his 19 years service he has served the vibrant and multicultural communities of London gaining vast experience in dealing with the varying issues that are prevalent in a capital city. One area of expertise is in combating the culture of knife crime associated with youth violence. He currently lectures in education establishments in order to highlight the dangers of such crimes to those most at risk. His intention is to share information with other European Police Forces to form a best practice.'