The voice of young victims – and their families – is being lost in the current knife-crime debate, according to Embrace’s Chair of Trustees.
Ex-Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has said a range of factors is contributing to the “mounting toll of young bodies in our mortuaries”.
His comments were made in a speech to an international audience of members of British APCO which recently named Embrace Child Victims of Crime as its charity partner.
Describing the “scourge of knife crime afflicting our young people”, he said: “Let no one pedal the nonsense of simple ‘go to’ solutions – there aren’t any.
“Let no one tell you that we haven’t been here before; we have – I recall the surge in young on young gun and knife violence during my time as the Met’s Deputy Commissioner.
“In the midst of all of this finger-pointing and rhetoric something is being lost – and that is the voice of the victims and witnesses, and their families. Embrace is committed to being the voice of young victims and witness of crime and equally determined to support them through the trauma afterwards.”
Sir Paul appeared as a guest speaker at the annual BAPCO conference in Coventry, urging members to pledge their support to the charity.
Embrace CVoC operates in all parts of the UK, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, provides a range of therapeutic support to help children and families across the UK recover from serious crime, including those impacted or bereaved through knife-crime.
In recent years, the charity has hosted a number of families left bereaved as a result of knife crime on its bi-annual peer group support trips to Disneyland Paris, where children and families affected can share their experiences and build happy memories in a safe environment.
