A group of young people held those in charge of policing to account during a special My Tomorrow workshop on crime, which had been organised by the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP).
Some of the 15 young people, who gathered at the Coventry Boys and Girls Club, on Whitefriars Street, had first-hand experience of knife crime and gangs, and recounted their real-life horrors to the panel.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, Chief Superintendent Paul Drover and the Head of Youth Justice Services for Coventry City Council Nick Jeffreys, listened and answered questions from the group, who told them that they often didn’t feel safe in the city.
The event on Thursday, 18 September was organised as part of the My Tomorrow campaign, which was created by young people from across the West Midlands to empower youth voice around issues such as safety, crime and opportunities for young people.
The evening workshop also touched on possible solutions, with young people emphasising a need for stronger life lessons in school to ensure they can keep themselves and others safe, as well as practical and compulsory first-aid lessons, including training to stop a bleed.
21-year-old Olivia Birtwistle told the panel that she had her drink spiked at university and only survived because her housemates knew what to do to prevent a seizure.
She added: “We got the call from the ambulance that it was three hours away, so OK time is against us. It takes seconds for drugs to kill somebody, so they were trying to cool my temperature down so my body can regulate itself, but I wasn’t taught any of that in school. It should be compulsory that we are taught how to keep ourselves safe.” `
The panel heard about a wide-range of problems, including the glamorisation of prison on social media, a lack of opportunities and jobs which draws young people to ‘quick money’, little advertising of youth activities and safe spaces on the platforms young people engage with, and a lack of trust between young people and the police.
The PCC Simon Foster said: “Hearing about some of the brutal and harsh realities of their day to day experiences only provides me with yet further determination to do all I can within my power to address the challenges they have in terms of preventing, tackling and reducing violence.”
Ch Supt Paul Drover, Coventry’s local police commander, said the session was incredibly powerful and will inform the way police work with partners to tackle and prevent crimes affecting young people in Coventry.
He added: “I’m committed now. I made the commitment in the room. We’re going to bring the team together, we’re going to bring the children and young people together so they can have a say and help with how we tackle violence in the city.”
These workshops will be regular events in Coventry, as part of the My Tomorrow campaign, allowing young people to put their thoughts and questions to people in positions of power. For more information about the My Tomorrow campaign, visit: My Tomorrow – West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership (westmidlands-vrp.org)
