The ‘I live my life… without a knife’ campaign today received a bronze award in the police-led category of the 2021 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA).
The ACVPA recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence.
The ‘I live my life… without a knife’ campaign was developed due to the increase in knife-related offences in Queensland over the past 5 years. The campaign focused on raising awareness of knife possession laws and encouraging compliance through education about associated risks and penalties. The campaign used key psychological principles of normative and informational social influence to change unsafe practices of knife carrying and reduce the number of community members carrying knives.
Senior Sergeant Ken Murray, from the Queensland Police Service, said that through a cross-agency approach, the campaign targeted young people aged 14–24 years due to their over-representation as both victims and offenders in knife-related incidents in the Logan district.
“By focusing on possession offences there was a reduction in opportunities for other, more serious forms of knife crime to occur. During the campaign period there was a significant decrease in knife-related offences in public places as well as in street locations.
“The long-term goal is to educate and empower young people to make better choices, and reduce knife crime (including knife carriage) in public places,” said Senior Sergeant Murray.
“Winning the ACPA award means we talking about knife crime and bringing awareness to the issue. We are sharing ideas and making a difference for a safer community. We are helping our youth have a brighter and stronger future without knives,” he said.
Queensland Police Service (QPS) Commissioner Katarina Carroll congratulated the state’s winners on their extraordinary projects and for their dedication to keeping their communities safe.
“Congratulations to those involved in the “I live my life… without a knife” knife crime prevention campaign on your bronze award in the police sector, which was awarded for decreasing knife related offences in public places and street locations,” she said.
These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.
Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Director, Michael Phelan APM, said that this is a very worthwhile project targeting a serious violent crime problem that is relevant Australia wide.
“This program is an excellent initiative that seeks to change young people’s attitude to the carriage of knives and is supported by a reduction of offences, indicating that it was highly successful,” Mr Phelan said.
All projects are assessed each year by the ACVPA Board, which is chaired by the AIC Director and consists of senior law enforcement representatives from each state and territory police service.
The awards are a joint Australian Government, state and territory initiative administered by the AIC.
For more information about the award winners, visit www.aic.gov.au/acvpa
To watch the ceremony please visit our YouTube channel, CriminologyTV.
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