13th November 2006
Don’t
Scar Another Generation
A new campaign to challenge
Scotland’s knife carrying culture has brought a hard-hitting message to
Greenock – Let's Not Scar Another Generation.
Greenock
and Inverclyde MSP, Duncan McNeil, said the campaign was the just the latest
step in the concerted drive to crack down on knife crime.
“While
we have taken action to toughen the law, strengthen police powers and get blades
off the streets, too many people, especially in the West of Scotland, still
harbour the bizarre notion that carrying a knife is somehow normal,” he said
today.
“Our
blade culture has left our community scarred with too many self-inflicted wounds
and needs to be challenged. Not a
quick or easy task, but one on which we can’t give up.”
Launching
the campaign, Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson, said:
“Crime
in Scotland is falling. Violent
crime is now at its lowest level since devolution.
“However,
if we are to reduce that further, Government, police and other public services
need the help of this generation and their families to create a climate in which
respect is earned by the way a person lives their life - and not what they carry
in their pocket.”
The
Scottish Executive, Strathclyde Police’s Violence Reduction Unit, and the
Crown Office have been undertaking a range of work in the past year to crack
down on knife crime.
This
includes new legislation to toughen the law on knife carrying, a national knives
amnesty and two enforcement campaigns.
ENDS
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