Derby County Football Club and its charitable arm, the Derby County Community Trust, have been working with Derbyshire Constabulary to highlight a number of poignant messages and awareness on knife crime.
The club and the Community Trust have joined forces to show the messages through the digital billboards and screens throughout Pride Park Stadium in recent months and have also teamed up on prevention work, delivering a range of sessions to youngsters on their sports programmes.
Forward Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and midfielder Max Bird also met Superintendent Sarah McAughtrie, the force lead for knife crime and serious violence, and the pair spoke to Supt McAughtrie after a recent home game and offered their support ahead of Operation Sceptre, the national week of action on knife crime.
The Community Trust also aims to improve lives through physical activity and sport and the team deliver a range of programmes, which focus on supporting young people through promoting teamwork, leadership and resilience.
Sergeant Ben Frearson, from Derbyshire Constabulary, has worked closely with Derby County Community Trust and said: “It’s valuable to have their support, especially around our efforts to raise awareness and prevent knife crime.
“Whilst we know it is only a small minority of people in Derbyshire who believe it is acceptable to carry knives, a key part of keeping knife crime out of the county is prevention. This involves speaking to people and educating them on the dangers, consequences and misconceptions around knife crime so they are better equipped to make the right decisions.
“Being able to do this alongside the Community Trust, who are active in the community and local schools, is fantastic. Going into their sessions and being integrated into their love of sport is invaluable when it comes to engaging with the young people who value it so much.
“It helps us build that trust and ultimately helps them take on board what we need to get across.
“As well as this, the screens they are kindly using to display our messaging will be seen by many people who are attending the stadium, as well as those who are passing by.
“We want to thank the Community Trust for their support. It makes all the difference for this kind of prevention work.”
Simon Carnall, Head of Community for Derby County Community Trust, said: “We are committed to supporting our communities across the city, and focus a lot of our work on supporting young people to lead happy and healthy lives.
“Knife crime is an important topic which we deal with through our community-based Inclusion sessions, so to involve the local police force within this delivery helps to break down many barriers, which ultimately leads to safer outcomes for all.”