West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster speaks about the new initiative where churches and faith hubs will have youth programmes set up in them to help with boosting youth wellbeing and tackling issues around crime.
Fabio Parish, who is a budding boxer, also talks about what makes the Midlands Langar Sava Society centre in Walsall a safe place for him.
Fabio Parish, who is a budding boxer, also talks about what makes the Midlands Langar Sava Society centre in Walsall a safe place for him.
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00:00So tell me about the youth programme, tell me about the idea behind what these are.
00:05So this programme originated within our violence reduction partnership in the West Midlands.
00:10We have a faith alliance and we invested £100,000 into that faith alliance
00:16and with that investment we're setting up four safe spaces
00:20and those safe spaces are really centres that young people can come to
00:24in order to ensure that we're safeguarding and promoting their welfare
00:28particularly with a view to ensuring that we're dealing with youth violence and knife crime.
00:35And that's been one of the big things recently and there have been cases of knife crime
00:39and even more noticeable cases but there's also been a drop in total.
00:43So do you think programmes like this can really help towards that drop in knife crimes?
00:46Absolutely, I mean we need that robust policing and disruption and enforcement, of course we do
00:52but we also need to invest in that prevention, early intervention, diversion
00:56and addressing the underlying cause of that youth violence and knife crime
00:59and it's exactly projects like this that can ensure that we are successfully reducing
01:06youth violence and knife crime and as you say in the West Midlands recently
01:10we have seen welcome reductions in both serious youth violence and knife crime.
01:15And what do you think of this particular safe space?
01:17Well I think it's fantastic.
01:20We've got the opportunity for young people to come and engage in boxing, music activities
01:26you can see there's a real buzz here, fantastic environment
01:32a lot of young people coming in and out of the safe space
01:37and that's exactly what it's here for, that's exactly why we're investing this £100,000.
01:42Is this part of a future tranche of investment going forward?
01:47We absolutely want to continue investing in young people
01:51because we have to make sure we safeguard and promote their welfare
01:54that's absolutely essential, we need to believe in, engage with, listen to
01:58and most importantly invest in our young people
02:01because our young people are sometimes the most vulnerable in society
02:04so within our violence reduction partnership we invest in a whole host of different activities
02:08not only this safe space, so for example we invest in education in schools
02:12we invest in youth workers in A&E departments
02:14and for example in police custody centres as well.
02:17And this is in Walsall, are there other parts of the Midlands, the black country that you're focusing on?
02:23Yeah, we have a total of four locations that we're investing the £100,000 in
02:28in order to establish the safe spaces in the West Midlands
02:31so we have Birmingham, Dudley and Walsall.
02:34And are you tempted to get your gloves on and have a go yourself?
02:37Personally, no I'm not, I was a very keen sports person
02:42but football and cricket were my sports, not boxing.
02:46So Fabio, tell me a bit about what this place means to you, tell me what you do here first of all.
02:51Well first of all I do boxing here and for me it's always like a safe space to come here to get my mind off things
02:58and when I'm stressed out I just come here, just hit the bags.
03:02And are you originally from Walsall?
03:05No, I'm originally from Aston but I moved up to Walsall.
03:12And Walsall has had a reputation in the past of being unsafe, parts of Walsall have had a reputation of being unsafe.
03:17Have you ever felt unsafe on the streets?
03:21You know what, it depends about who you know and what you get up to.
03:25Me personally, there's been some times where I've encountered some things
03:31and I did feel unsafe but it is Walsall, everywhere is like that.
03:37But this place has been designated and funded as a safe space, do you think there's a great concept to it?
03:44Yes, we have one.
03:46And what is it that makes this place so special?
03:49The community, the band that you have with all your coaches and all your friends around here.
03:57And in general, you're able to come here, you're able to be safe, be amongst your friends, be amongst your coaches
04:03and do what you like as well.