Meeting with the MET at Scotland Yard
Alongside other YPAG members (Leonita, Bipin, Miriam and Kai), Jade was invited to Scotland Yard to speak with the MET Police on the issue around Knife Imagery.
YPAG had concerns with the MET Police posting images of seized knives on their social media accounts. They were concern that these images being posted had an negative impact on young people as well as members of different communities. In order to get their concerns heard, the YPAG commissioned their own research with UCL and also did some qualitative data research of their own at
Youth Takeover Day.
The research showed that a lot of young people have become desensitised to seeing the images of knives, some highlighted that it makes them fearful of their communities and some even admitted that seeing these images makes them want to carry a knife themselves.
Meeting with the MET was successful and they took YPAG’s recommendations to stop posting knifes seriously. The Met was very receptive to create a long standing relationship with YPAG to create positive content of the MET’s work to showcase on social media platforms and the media. This is work will help to rebuild trust within communities and with young people themselves.
