Police marksmen and bereaved families to warn pupils off knives and guns

12 April 2012

Schoolchildren in London are to be given lessons about the dangers of gun and knife crime in an initiative involving police marksmen and the families of victims.

Pupils aged 11 to 18 will be shown footage of armed police dealing with shootings as well as images from the funeral of a teenager murdered in the capital. A new presentation entitled Choices will also include talks by members of Families Utd, a group of parents whose children have been killed in London.

The presentation is part of Operation Makepeace, a joint project by the Met's CO19 specialist firearms unit and the Greenwich and Lewisham Young
People's Theatre who will perform a play.

Chief Inspector Rob Atkin said: "We have already learned how effective Operation Makepeace can be and the effect it has on young people when we present it. There is a funeral scene which is very hard-hitting and you literally can hear a pin drop whenever we show it.

"By combining it with this powerful play and heartfelt words from parents of victims, Choices really does show how young lives and all those around them can be ruined by making the choice to carry a gun or knife.

"Just one wrong decision can destroy their lives forever. This programme is about making them think carefully now about the issues, so if or when the time comes, they can make the right choice not to carry guns or knives."

The Choices presentation was being officially launched today at Sedgehill School in Lewisham.

Deputy Mayor for policing, Kit
Malthouse, said: "Getting involved with gun and knife crime will ruin your life and devastate your friends and family.

"The Choices project shows the serious consequences that carrying weapons have and should really make young people think twice.

"The students here today are hearing first hand from the skilled police officers who deal with the aftermath of horrific firearm incidents across our city."

The launch of Choices comes as former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, whose 16-year-old brother Ben was fatally stabbed in Islington in 2008, called for lessons on gun and knife crime to be added to the national curriculum.

Kinsella, who was appointed by Home Secretary Theresa May this year to review anti-knife crime initiatives, is due to present a report on her
findings this week.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in