A Yorkshire youth organisation has called for the targeting of high-risk children for additional support amid announcements of new government knife-crime interventions on Tuesday (April 7).

The Government has announced precise mapping data, backed by £26 million funding, to crack down on knife crime hot spots.

The mapping technology will support police to boost operations in the hot spots it identifies.

Funding will be allocated to the 27 police forces in England and Wales that deal with 90 per cent of knife crime.

Crime and Policing Minister, Sarah Jones, said AI would bring control rooms into the 21st century.

placeholder image — Crime and Policing Minister, Sarah Jones, said AI would bring control rooms into the 21st century.

This comes on top of £1.2 million allocated to 250 schools in the form of specialist training, mentoring for high-risk students and chaperones on school routes.

Always an Alternative, a Sheffield-based youth support charity with a focus on knife crime, said 1-1 support with young people is the main thing that will create meaningful change.

Anthony Olaseinde is an anti-knife crime campaigner and founder of Always an Alternative.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “I’d like to see a criteria of what kids are most high-risk so they can get that 1-1 support and focussed work. That's the only way of doing it really.”

Always an Alternative provides this service currently, going into schools and holding 1-1 mentoring programmes.

Mentoring from the charity isn’t always specific to knife crime, but it covers the underlying issues that can cause it, such as anger management.

Group workshops and one to one sessions give young people a supportive person to talk to, which Mr Olaseinde says can develop their confidence.

Mr Olaseinde has seen the success of this preventative work in deterring young people from carrying a knife, or becoming a victim.

He also wants to see every school have a knife crime awareness assembly twice a year, every year, so everyone has an understanding of the law.

These assemblies encourage young people to speak up, he said, because they aren't the ones starting that conversation.

Mr Olaseinde said schools need to understand what makes a student high-risk.

He said: “What they should be doing is mapping which students associate themselves with which gangs in which cities, that would be more beneficial.”

Young people, and the underlying issues they face, are the ones needing support and attention, Mr Olaseinde said.

Policing minister Sarah Jones said “knife crime devastates lives and families across the country, and the majority of it takes place on just a small number of streets across the country”.

“We will deploy state-of-the-art mapping to identify these hot spots and target them with police patrols, live facial recognition and knife arches to catch these criminals”, she added.

“This Government will halve knife crime within a decade, saving lives and protecting communities.”