Studentsjoin police campaignon weapons

Fiona Evans

Students from Wakefield will join police in the city centre to warn people of the dangers of getting involved with weapons and gang culture.

Under the banner, “Not in Our City”, the anti-gun and knife crime event on Saturday is a joint venture between Wakefield Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT), Wakefield College, and West Yorkshire Police’s Pc Rory Romani, who is behind the Think Life Not Knife campaign.

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The campaign has been created to raise weapons awareness across all ages and has recruited students from the college to help out.

On Saturday, students and police officers will be in the city centre to raise awareness of the risks of getting involved with weapons and gang culture.

A weapons awareness presentation has now been given to thousands of children at schools and youth groups.

Operation Mineral has seen Pc Romani visiting schools and educating youngsters about the dangers of weapons and the penalties they could face if caught with knives or guns.

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Pc Romani said: “Following on from the success of Operation Mineral I wanted to take the messages from that work to a wider audience. I also want to show the people of West Yorkshire – not just the region’s young people – both the dangers of getting involved with weapons and how seriously the police deal with weapon-related incidents.”

Insp Richard Close, of Wakefield NPT, said: “This event will ensure that these important messages are delivered by Pc Romani and the NPT officers. This is an opportunity for officers to have quality, face-to-face interaction with the communities we serve and to speak openly about these difficult issues.”