Neighbourhood Watch is supporting Charlie's Story, a national knife crime awareness campaign from Fearless, the youth service of Crimestoppers, developed in partnership with Charlie's Promise. As part of our support, we will be sharing campaign resources and Charlie's story across our social media channels to help raise awareness and encourage conversations about knife crime.
The campaign is centred around the story of Charlie Cosser, who was tragically killed in 2023 at the age of 17. Through a powerful short film and accompanying resources, the campaign highlights the devastating impact of knife crime and encourages young people to use their voice to help prevent violence before it happens.
According to recent research by YouGov, only one in three young people are likely to report knife crime directly to the police, increasing to over half when they can report through an anonymous service like Fearless.org or Crimestoppers.
At Neighbourhood Watch, we know that tackling knife crime requires a whole-community approach. Communities, young people, families, schools, charities, policing partners and government all have a role to play in creating safer places to live and preventing violence. By supporting this campaign, we are helping to amplify important messages about reporting, prevention and the ways people can safely share information about crime.
Our involvement forms part of our ongoing work with police forces, the Home Office and charity partners to help reduce knife crime and improve community safety. We are committed to supporting initiatives that empower communities to take positive action and help protect young people from harm.
We are proud to support Fearless and Charlie's Promise in this important campaign and encourage our networks to learn more about Charlie's story and the role that communities can play in preventing knife crime.
For more information, visit Charlie's Promise or Fearless.