#LIVESNOTKNIVES – THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL
Leicestershire Police are working with a local graffiti artist to get their #LivesNotKnives message out in a new way.
Adrian Gardner, a father from Braunstone, has already completed several pieces of art for the Braunstone Blues project on various buildings in the area. He was made aware of the #LivesNotKnives campaign by Edd Rogers, who manages the Braunstone Blues project, which aims to help reduce demand and repeat calls on all the emergency services by the residents of Braunstone.
Edd, who works for Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service (LFRS), said: “I’m pleased to be part of this creative way to get an important message across. Not only is the message a very important one, but the artwork itself is more pleasing to the eye than original scruffy graffiti.”
Adrian volunteered to design and create the graffiti, based on the force’s #LivesNotKnives artwork, which can be seen on the toilet block at the corner of Gooding Avenue and Braunstone Avenue.
Adrian said: “I love to paint and want to use this to do good. In my youth I might have been running from the police, now I’m working with them. I am happy to do what I can to help get knives off the streets.”
Shane O’Neill, Superintendent of Local Policing, said: “We are really grateful to Adrian for volunteering his time to help us to spread the message that knives cost lives in such a positive way.”
The #LivesNotKnives campaign aims to reduce the number of knife-related offences in the city, to educate and inform young people of the dangers of carrying knives, and to bring offenders to justice.
For more information about the #LivesNotKnives campaign, please visit leics.police.uk/knife-crime.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. To find out more about Braunstone Blues please contact Braunstone Blues on 07800 709 802 or Braunstone.blues@lfrs.org
2. You can follow Braunstone Blues on social media: Facebook: @braunstoneblues Twitter: @braunstoneblues Instagram: braunstoneblues
About the Braunstone Blues
In May 2015 Braunstone Blues was established. This is a dedicated team consisting of a Watch Manager and a Community Safety Advisor from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service; Police Constable, and Police Community Support Officer, from Leicestershire Police; and a Paramedic from East Midlands Ambulance Service. The team has since extended to a second Paramedic and an Occupational Therapist.
999 demand data from all three services was analysed and it was found that the small geographical area of Braunstone produced close to 4,600 999 calls every year. This was roughly a 56% EMAS, 40% Police, and 4% Fire. The population of the area was 15,700 people living in 6,000 homes. This was shown to be the highest area of demand in all of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
The team work with partners and residents of Braunstone to deliver a healthier, safer and more secure community by educating and directing residents to appropriate services via a home visit service and delivering appropriate campaigns, to reduce the number of emergency calls in the area.
There are four main streams of work for Braunstone Blues; Home Visits, Community Events, working with high demand users and running Life Skills sessions in the community.
Contact:
Jessica Essex
Braunstone Blues Communications Officer
07966 111 273
jessica.essex@lfrs.org
Download a PDF version here.
