Crimestoppers
Fearless - Our Youth Service
How Crimestoppers’ youth work gives young people a voice against serious violence
Wales Manager Ella Rabaiotti tells us about how young people can be exploited by the County Lines phenomenon.
As campaigning and educating on County Lines becomes a prominent part of the focus of our youth service, Fearless, our Wales Manager Ella Rabaiotti was asked to speak at the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) event ‘From Care to Where’. The Cardiff event looked at the interconnection between missing children, County Lines and exploitation and the links to serious crime amongst care-experienced young people. Here’s an excerpt from Ella’s speech:
Crimestoppers created Fearless in 2010 to reach out differently to a teenage audience. At heart, Crimestoppers and Fearless are the same - giving people a voice to speak up about crime safely and anonymously, when they feel they have nowhere else to turn. We also want to educate and empower young people so they recognise crime and exploitation and understand that they have a voice against it.
Young people are disproportionately affected by crime, which often goes unreported. A 2014 report by Victim Support and the University of Bedfordshire found that there are several reasons why young people choose not to report crime - including lack of knowledge about what constitutes crime and how to report it. Children and young people fear the repercussions of reporting and may be reluctant to come forward for fear of being labelled a ‘snitch’ or for fear getting into trouble themselves.
Fearless encourages young people to make positive, informed decisions about reporting crime, using a youth work approach. Building on our campaign work in Wales in the last few years, Fearless has been commissioned as a delivery partner within the Wales Serious Violence Prevention programme; Fearless Outreach Workers work across Wales with partners including St Giles Trust and Street Games Wales, to help young people feel safer - because we know sometimes that the fear of crime is greater than the problem itself. As a result of the project, we hope young people will be better informed about crime and to where to seek support - including through Fearless.Org
The Fearless Youth Workers’ key role is delivering educational interactive workshops in schools and youth groups - but also being responsive to emerging needs, such as where incident hot spots are identified. We’ve also been working on the Newport Serious Organised Crime prevention pilot, where we’ve been able to respond swiftly to drug and knife crime concerns.
We’re keen to develop session content that is meaningful and relevant for young people. Current delivery is focused on our new film - Running the Lines - which raises awareness of how ‘County Lines’ drug gangs exploit young people to sell drugs. The story follows Evan who is groomed, exploited and threatened into becoming a drug runner for a London-based organised crime gang. We want to use the film to start a conversation with young people about the signs of exploitation and the serious consequences of getting involved with criminal gangs, including the risk of violence.
We don’t underestimate the challenges when getting young people to report serious violence. If the general youth population are underreporting crime, it ‘s even more of a challenge for care-experienced young people, and those who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
We’re so passionate about Fearless that key to our work is getting other agencies on board to help deliver our messages. Our most difficult audiences will say ‘ you’re not the police, are you?’ which is why our youth worker approach is so important and also our professionals training. When we train a youth worker or professionals who already have a trusted relationship and they deliver our messages, young people can be more receptive.
I believe Fearless has an important role to play as a third sector partner in crime education and prevention. We can do more for care-affected young people certainly, and look forward to working with NYAS to build awareness of Fearless.org. We want to work together to support all young people in our communities in a way that meets their needs and empowers them to be confident and fearless!
For more information on NYAS Missing the Point campaign visit https://www.nyas.net/campaigns/missing-the-point/
To find out more about Fearless’ work in Wales, including the Running the Lines film https://www.fearless.org/en/professionals/resources/wales
Crimestoppers created Fearless in 2010 to reach out differently to a teenage audience. At heart, Crimestoppers and Fearless are the same - giving people a voice to speak up about crime safely and anonymously, when they feel they have nowhere else to turn. We also want to educate and empower young people so they recognise crime and exploitation and understand that they have a voice against it.
Young people are disproportionately affected by crime, which often goes unreported. A 2014 report by Victim Support and the University of Bedfordshire found that there are several reasons why young people choose not to report crime - including lack of knowledge about what constitutes crime and how to report it. Children and young people fear the repercussions of reporting and may be reluctant to come forward for fear of being labelled a ‘snitch’ or for fear getting into trouble themselves.
Fearless encourages young people to make positive, informed decisions about reporting crime, using a youth work approach. Building on our campaign work in Wales in the last few years, Fearless has been commissioned as a delivery partner within the Wales Serious Violence Prevention programme; Fearless Outreach Workers work across Wales with partners including St Giles Trust and Street Games Wales, to help young people feel safer - because we know sometimes that the fear of crime is greater than the problem itself. As a result of the project, we hope young people will be better informed about crime and to where to seek support - including through Fearless.Org
The Fearless Youth Workers’ key role is delivering educational interactive workshops in schools and youth groups - but also being responsive to emerging needs, such as where incident hot spots are identified. We’ve also been working on the Newport Serious Organised Crime prevention pilot, where we’ve been able to respond swiftly to drug and knife crime concerns.
We’re keen to develop session content that is meaningful and relevant for young people. Current delivery is focused on our new film - Running the Lines - which raises awareness of how ‘County Lines’ drug gangs exploit young people to sell drugs. The story follows Evan who is groomed, exploited and threatened into becoming a drug runner for a London-based organised crime gang. We want to use the film to start a conversation with young people about the signs of exploitation and the serious consequences of getting involved with criminal gangs, including the risk of violence.
We don’t underestimate the challenges when getting young people to report serious violence. If the general youth population are underreporting crime, it ‘s even more of a challenge for care-experienced young people, and those who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
We’re so passionate about Fearless that key to our work is getting other agencies on board to help deliver our messages. Our most difficult audiences will say ‘ you’re not the police, are you?’ which is why our youth worker approach is so important and also our professionals training. When we train a youth worker or professionals who already have a trusted relationship and they deliver our messages, young people can be more receptive.
I believe Fearless has an important role to play as a third sector partner in crime education and prevention. We can do more for care-affected young people certainly, and look forward to working with NYAS to build awareness of Fearless.org. We want to work together to support all young people in our communities in a way that meets their needs and empowers them to be confident and fearless!
For more information on NYAS Missing the Point campaign visit https://www.nyas.net/campaigns/missing-the-point/
To find out more about Fearless’ work in Wales, including the Running the Lines film https://www.fearless.org/en/professionals/resources/wales
