Nearly a hundred people logged on to watch Hertfordshire Constabulary’s first live streamed #Livesnotknives event broadcast.
The event was broadcasted via Instagram on July 23.
Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Children and Young Persons team and Herts Sports Partnership invited speakers with first-hand experience of serious violence to share their personal stories.
First speaker, Darren Awolesi, spoke about how he sustained serious gunshot injuries and the impact that this has had on his life.
Alison Cope then spoke about the devastating murder of her son, Josh Ribera, appealing to young people and parents to just “do their best” and really think about the reality of carrying a weapon and the consequences that it can have.
Quinton Green, a spoken word artist, performed “Knife sentence” and another poem, “A letter to my youngers”, written especially for the event.
Quinton also spoke about being the victim of a stabbing and how music has changed and shaped his life.
Sergeant Helen Croughton, from the Gangs and Schools team, said: “The event is designed to make young people, parents and professionals look behind the reality of the headlines which we are often so desensitised to, in order to understand the true trauma and tragedy that comes from carrying a weapon and being involved in serious violence.
“I would like to thank our speakers Alison Cope, Darren Awolsei and Quinton Green for speaking about their personal stories and trauma to try and help others. This is always very hard to hear but it is so important that we have those conversations. This is the first time that we have live streamed the event and it enabled us to reach a wider audience, so it’s a great way to get the preventative message out there.”
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