A youth from Bath spoke out against knife crime, saying that some “young children” carry knives and are “not afraid” to use them.
The anonymous youths said the youths were afraid to surrender to the police in case they were targeted.
He said the young people feared they would be “beaten and kicked out of town” if they reported problems to the authorities.
He said, “People come to Bath and I’ve seen a lot here.
“In the younger community of Bath if you get robbed with a knife you don’t go to the police because if you do you will be stabbed by a friend of the person who robbed you or you will be beaten. and driven out of town.
“Young children carry guns and are not afraid to use them.”
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The young man says he wants Bath to be safe but says “he is not”.
He talks about young people in the city involved in crime and not getting caught out of fear of reporting.
He said: ‘When I went to school in the area, there was a boy who was 15 who had brought up to £ 1,000 of crack cocaine to school, but he didn’t. made take.
“One person was robbed with machetes and is too scared to contact the police out of fear.
“One of them had to go to A and E so as not to be stepped on. The people who did it are 16 and 17 years old.
“I have an incredible amount of things to say and I really want Bath to be safe but it’s not.”
The youngster claims that some children are manipulated by adults to become criminals.
He said: “There is one person who has lived in Bath for 3 years, he is known to have stabbed 4 different people and robbed almost everyone I know.
“But he always walks around with people who face no punishment, invoking fear, terrorizing the younger generation, manipulating children into stealing and selling Class A drugs.
“You never know how bad it is.”
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Sergeant Jon Raisey, Avon and Somerset Police Officer for Bath city center, said knife crime is rare in the city, but one group in particular is known to intimidate children and children. young people in crime.
He said: “What we often see with knife crime is that his young children show themselves to their fellow students and they did not intend to use it.
“Yet we are seeing a small number of cases in Bath where young people carry guns when involved in group crimes in self-defense.”
He went on to say that cases of juvenile knife crime in Bath are rare, four confirmed in 2020 and one so far this year.
“Some adults try to get kids to commit crimes, and then once that kid is involved, they try to intimidate them by threatening them for what they’ve already done.
“The police know how to help a young person in this situation and one group in particular is operating like this in Bath.”
Previously, police in Avon and Somerset have explained how they do not seek to prosecute young people who are pressured into committing crimes.
Sgt Raisey said police can protect a young person who comes forward to report a crime and ensure they remain anonymous.
He said: “The first thing to say is that if someone confidently comes to us to tell us what’s going on, we protect their identity.
“We can find other ways to get people caught and just use the information to help us, because we understand that not everyone wants to be in the crosshairs.
“It is also worth saying that there are very strict penalties for anyone who intimidates witnesses to crimes.
“What is important for young people to know is that they are not alone, that we can help, that their teachers can help or their parents.
“If they don’t want to talk to us directly, they can use services like Fearless, which give them a chance to speak anonymously, like Crimestoppers.
“What is most important is that they are talking to someone because the help is there.”
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Source: www.somersetlive.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-04-29 12:07:47
