Inspector Ian Bowden and PCSO Annabelle Chambers from Durham Constabulary visited Durham Sixth Form Centre to deliver two assemblies to over 300 students, looking at the themes of knife crime, road safety and driver awareness.

PCSO Annabelle Chambers delivered the session regarding knife crime where students were informed around the legal responsibilities about carrying a knife. They were also given information around possible sentencing guidelines about those individuals carrying offensive weapons. PCSO Chambers also delivered important messaging around the costs of knife crime not only regarding the perpetrator and victim but also the lasting damage that can be caused to family and friends including the wider community. Information was also given about those who carry knives are most likely to be victims of knife crime but more staggeringly those who go to A&E for treatment statistically are more likely to be stabbed by their own knife.

Inspector Ian Bowden delivered the message to students about road safety and driver awareness. They were informed and given powerful messaging about the Fatal Four; speeding, using a mobile phone whilst driving, not wearing a seatbelt and drink/drug driving. Students were asked to be involved in an interactive task regarding the fatal four. Students were then also shown a video from the Durham force area of those drivers who had been arrested for being under the influence of alcohol and the effect that this had on their driving ability. At the end of the session the students were shown another video about a serious road traffic collision that had taken place on the A1 where a lorry driver had been using his mobile phone and 3 people had been killed. This was particularly hard hitting as it included interviews with the victims families, the officers investigating and the lorry driver himself.

Students at the end of the session were given the opportunity to see Inspector Bowden’s traffic car that he had brought to the centre. Both sessions were extremely valuable and students were also able to ask questions of both Inspector Bowden and PCSO Chambers about career routes into the Police.