Federation for Detached Youth Work

Gun, Gang and Knife Crime Seminar Report

Introduction

During the Federation for Detached Youth Work (FDYW) Conference in November 2007 Federation members expressed a desire to explore issues relating to gangs & gun and knife crime in greater detail. This was in response to a number of things; Firstly, workers felt that increasingly they were coming across gang issues more frequently in their work. Secondly, workers were aware of increased pressure from other agencies for them to engage with young people involved in gang violence with a view to involving them in diversionary activities, or more vaguely, to ‘do something about’ the problem. Finally, social policy was taking an increasing interest in youth crime, notably with the development of the Youth Crime Action Plan, and it was felt that the Federation should do something to engage with the issues this raised.

In response to this, the Federation executive decided to hold an event specifically around these issues. The brief which was arrived at was to hold a seminar where Detached Youth Workers could talk freely about their experiences of gangs, gun & knife crime, and these experiences were to be recorded as first hand accounts of what is really happening on the streets and how it was affecting young people and Detached Youth workers. To this end a seminar was held in September 2008.

What follows is as accurate a summary as possible of what was communicated at that seminar.

What we did

The Federation for Detached Youth Work invited workers from the field to a one day seminar in London. We charged £20 per place to cover our costs. 80 delegates attended; the delegates were all engaged in working with young people, mostly in a detached youth work setting.

The day began with a ½ hour presentation from Mick Hurley, an advisor on gangs and gang culture from the Home Office. 

The format for the rest of the day was as follows; 4 groups of 20 delegates, each with a member of the exec committee to facilitate, were asked to discuss and comment upon the same 4 questions/statements:

What is our experience of gun, knife and gang crime from the streets?

What are the key factors that influence these issues?

How can we best prepare ourselves to respond to these issues?

Discuss methods of intervention.

The groups were asked after their discussions to agree upon any number of comments or answers to the above questions or comments. Facilitators were asked to keep the discussion focused and to record comments as agreed by the groups.

In addition delegates were given ‘reflective logs’ inviting them to share in more detail experiences they may have had in connection with gun, knife and gang related crime.

Subsequently, what follows is a compilation of those recordings. Comments made in response to each question or statement we asked the workshops to consider have been grouped under a general descriptive heading. To avoid confusion between the subject matter of groups and gangs of young people the groups of delegates are referred to as ‘workshops’.

What is our experience of guns, knife and gang crime?  

1. Definition of ‘a gang’:

·        All the workshops talked about the complexity of the term ‘gangs’, and how it is perceived and experienced in such diverse ways even within a detached youth work setting.  One workshop member said ‘this issue is too complex to summarise in bullet points’.

·        The home office definition of ‘gang’ was contested within one workshop that could not come to a consensus of agreement upon this term.

·        Some felt uncomfortable using this term, many felt it was often used too loosely and tends to demonize young people. 

·        Another workshop decided that the Home Office definition (of a gang), as they understood it, was acceptable, i.e. 3 or more people meeting with the main intent/ purpose of committing crime.

·        It was recognised that a problem is that groups of young people meeting for mainly social reasons often get labeled as a ‘gang’ erroneously.

·        It was also felt that young people are far safer in groups than on their own, and that as groups of young people are often perceived as gangs, this can be self-fulfilling.

·        It was commented that young people in some areas are adopting idioms from other gang culture, such as wearing gang colours and naming themselves as British versions of American gangs like ‘the bloods’ and ‘crips’. Some of these gangs have affiliated themselves to their American counterparts.

2. The Police:

·        There was a general feeling that the Police/authorities and media responses to issues surrounding ‘gangs’ often makes things worse. An example was PCSO’s being given full powers of arrest within a designated dispersal zone, set up by the Police, and being asked to go out in the area on their own, i.e. not accompanied by Police Officers. 

·        It was felt that the Police response to young people was often inconsistent.

·        One delegate commented that ‘front line face to face officers’ can often ruin work done by other agencies and officers within the Police Force, by the way they deal with young people on the streets, e.g. unfairly, using un-necessary force, having an over-reaction to incidents, with sometimes van loads of Police turning up to a relatively minor incident involving young people. 

·        One delegate commented ‘the organised gang that has the biggest, negative impact on my work is the Police’.

·        It was also noted that young people in the criminal justice system are themselves victims of social policy and of far more serious adult criminals, which is not always acknowledged.

3. Territorial issues:

·        Territory also plays a big part in this issue. Delegates reported young people from ‘other’ areas having much inflated reputations.

·        Others had experienced young people coming to a specific area in order to terrorize.

·        Some delegates had known young people too scared to go to certain projects because they were in the ‘wrong’ geographical area.

·        Some young people were missing important meetings, e.g. YOT meetings, just because the YOT office happened to be in the wrong area.

·        It was also noted, however that in different parts of the UK there were significantly different experiences. Gang membership was seen as an unclear concept by many in semi rural and some urban areas, whilst in other urban areas, detached youth workers perceived gang membership as a clear identity, which was shown through clothing, behavior, weapons, cars etc.

·        The delegates also noted incidences of young people writing negative raps (song lyrics) about people from other postcodes.

4. Family influences:

·        In some cases families of young people play a big role in their criminal behavior.  It was reported that family expectations or pressures mean that some young people have a certain image to live up to because maybe the father, uncle or older brother has a reputation for being hard or tough. Pressure is put on them from within the family to maintain the ‘family’ image.                                                                                                               

·        There was also an opinion that in some sense a gang/group gives young people a sense of family, of identity, of belonging, similar to a family. So, for those young people without a stable family life, the gang/group can take the place of family. 

·        Delegates noted that there was also peer pressure from within gangs/groups to be involved. Some young people get threatened with violence to stay in groups, or it is ‘not cool’ to leave a group or gang.

5. Issues within ‘gangs’:

·        Some delegates reported knowing younger children 8-13 yrs old, being used as runners i.e. asked to carry weapons for older young people because they get off lighter.

·        One workshop noted that they felt all gang related activities (using the home office definition of gang), were drug related in all aspects, and are related to financial gain.

6. Technological influences:

·        The greater use of technology was noted as influencing youth behavior. Mobile phones and importantly websites like BEBO, MSN, Facebook and MySpace allow much greater communication.

·        On-line bullying and aggression between young people has acted as a catalyst in some instances of group/gang fighting. 

·        It was also noted that some young people are using games like ‘GTA4’ on ‘Xbox Live’ to fight other groups of young people on line.

·        Young people are also seen showing off weaponry as a means of threatening other young people, for example; on MySpace there are pictures of young people brandishing guns and knives.  

·        Young people carry pictures of weapons they have left at home on their mobile phones.

7. Media influences:

·        Most delegates felt that gang, gun and knife crime is not actually getting worse, but that the media focusing on the issue is giving the appearance of it worsening.

·        It was observed that many young people are responding to the fear that the media portray, i.e. that everyone is carrying a knife or gun. They therefore respond by ‘tooling up’ as they are frightened.

The following are extracts from the reflective logs (in bold) that we had asked delegates to complete, along with conclusions/comments from the organizers, this adds to the overall experiences of detached youth workers around the issue of gun, knife and gang crime.

Many detached youth workers are dealing with issues of guns, gangs and knives on a day-to-day or occasional basis:

“It happens fairly often”.

Detached youth work often focuses on preventative and follow-up work rather than the actual incident:

“Help young people to think for themselves and give ways of leaving the group”. “Visited family, supported sibling over long term.”

However, youth workers are often present in critical and dangerous situations, and often intervene successfully; but at what threat to their own safety?

 “Was able to calm situation down.”

“Stepped in, separated them.”

“Two workers got bodily in his way while talking calmly to him.”

 “I separated and controlled many groups that were fighting.”

Relationships help protect and give confidence to the detached youth worker:

 “Didn't feel threatened as we knew the yp”.

 “(Felt) ok, quite confident... he listened to us because he knew us and seemed to want someone to stop him.”

Youth workers have multiple concerns / responsibilities, for the young person, themselves, and the rest of the group:

“Wanted to intervene but felt it would be too dangerous to workers and young people.”

Detached youth workers are often first on the scene of an incident or potential incident:

“Moved younger more vulnerable young people to safe area. Workers did not intervene in the fight. Called police... Group dispersed when police arrived (20 mins later).”

Some mixed feelings about calling the police even in dangerous situations, some found them useful and some doubt their effectiveness:

“Staff got scared. Police arrived and situation dispersed.” “Police called... (Felt) frustrated, could not do much, out of hands, no feedback.” 

“The police were called in the end and made matters worse.”

Several detached youth workers reported that they work with young people who injure others, or that young people from their projects have been injured or killed in gang and weapon related murders:

“A kid got stabbed and died. Was someone we worked with and had last contact with him.”

 “Fight continued, 2 yp injured.”

Sometimes there is a feeling of powerlessness, not being able to do enough:

“I feel another incident will happen.”

“I have no idea! Tried many strategies!”

“Very despondent about it and disappointed.”

More support is needed by detached youth workers working on these issues:

“(Felt) isolated in terms of colleague support. Some colleagues didn't understand.”

More continuity is needed, more quality detached youth workers, more sustainable funding:

“More sustainable funding and resources needed! More youth workers!”

“If we knew this group better we'd be in a more influential position with them. Need to be on their estate more than once (occasionally twice) a week.”

What are the key factors that influence these issues?

1.    Media influences:

·        The media were seen as playing a huge part in this issue by creating the impression that gang related crime is everywhere, that all young people carry weapons and are involved in gang related crime.

·        It was strongly felt that young people are portrayed negatively by society and the media, in particular young black males, and that some young people felt they had an image to live up to, the image created by the media!                      

·        There was also a feeling that the media contributes in glamorising gang culture i.e. via fight sites, video and DVD games portraying violence as entertainment.               

·        Young people want to be ‘famous’ so to get your name and picture in the paper, especially when related to a violent crime, can be an aspiration for some young people. 

·        Delegates also asked why companies like MySpace are allowing pictures of people holding guns and knives as this clearly glamorises the issue.      

·        TV shows like ‘The Real Hussle’ and ‘Crimewatch’ were also discussed as it was felt these showed young people how to be criminals.

·        Also films like ‘Adulthood’ were cited as glamorizing crime.  

·        The propensity to idolize celebrities was also seen as an issue affecting young people’s life styles. 

·        There was also a note that young people can sometimes confuse fear with respect. 

·        It was, however, noted that gangs are nothing new and have been an accepted part of society for many years.

2. Other social influences:

·        It was also noted how Governmental activity influences young people. For example, when learning about the methods used in the ‘war on terror’ and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, young people see that violence is an acceptable response to conflict by those in power, so our young people are in some ways following the same philosophy.

·        Another factor discussed was the lack of thought in council housing policy that was given and the effect those policies had on the young people living in housing estates.

·        It was noted that young people get a high, an adrenalin rush, from having been involved in an act of violence, and that this was a good feeling that young people wanted to experience.

·        Unemployment and poverty has led to young people experiencing gang involvement and drug dealing as their main opportunity to make money. This is exacerbated by capitalism and materialism which portray money as more important than family, friends and community life.  It was also noted that this ‘must have’ mentality is further exacerbated by the media.

·        It was noted that boredom had a role to play with a lack of awareness of some young people about opportunities for themselves to engage in more constructive activities.

·        It was felt some young people are behaving in a much more adult like manner at a much younger age.

·        It was noted that adolescence lasts longer now than in previous generations. E.g. school leaving age going up. 

·        And that a lack of early intervention can be detrimental to the issue.

3.    Family influences:

·        Again the family was discussed and the idea that some young people have a family name to live up to.

·        It was also noted that lack of a positive role model within the family, lack of boundaries and general poor parenting all contributed to the individual young person’s involvement in gang crime.                                                                                                              

·        There was a notable lack of positive identity for young people, including a lack of knowledge and celebration of their family history. This relates to all young people, but in particular to black people whose history is not adequately included in the school curriculum.  

·        This lack of cultural awareness was also seen as a contributory factor in violence between differing cultural identities.                                                                                                          

·        Another workshop felt the gang becomes their family; groups make young people feel good, powerful, safe and needed, and that a fear for their own leads young people to seek the sense of belonging a gang can bring, as opposed to being along and isolated.

·        Membership to a gang can also bring status for young people that cannot be attainable elsewhere.

4.    Issues involving The Police and the criminal justice system:

·        There was a feeling that the Police are and have been institutionally racist, and many young black people and their families have experienced the Police as the enemy and therefore do not trust them and do not report crime.  

·        Also a lack of faith in the system to dispense justice leads some people to turn to gangs to sort their problems out.  

·        Inconsistent punishments given for violent crime was also seen as an influential factor. Some people are tagged and some sent to prison for similar crimes. 

·        Prison was not seen by some young people as a punishment but as a bit of a joke. 

5.    The Education system:

·        It was felt that the education system had a big part to play, that it was failing some young people.

·        That it is out-dated and some see it merely as a tick-box exercise.

·        It was noted that some young people can’t cope with sitting and listening for long periods.

·        Young people don’t always fit into the education system we have, i.e. the system doesn’t meet the needs of the child, the system simply aims to make the child fit it. This can mean some young people feel failures in themselves due to the failures of the education system.

·        Low self value or self worth was seen as an important contributory factor. 

·        It was felt the standards of teachers had dropped with a lot of old, stale, teachers unwilling to change their style.

·        The inability of the education system to adapt to local needs was also seen as a negative.

6. Issues around Youth Work:

·        It was also noted that whereas youth workers had previously been seen, by young people, as being in a position of trust and working primarily in their interests; as inter-agency work (i.e. youth workers working with the Police), is increasing, young people are losing that trust and do not see youth workers as working primarily in their interests any longer.                                                                                        

·        It was also felt that a lack of long term funding meant youth workers could not plan and develop work with gang members. Pressures of youth work targets also meant that work was often seen as ‘fire fighting’ rather than developing relationships with young people.

How can we best prepare ourselves (detached youth workers) to respond to these issues?

1.    Issues under the general heading of management/team management:

·        The workshops recognised a need for good managerial and non managerial support for workers dealing with difficult situations and issues.

·        Team work is important with staff sharing information with other teams where appropriate. 

·        The youth workers felt that targets and bureaucracy are getting in the way of our work; it was felt that more realistic targets should be drawn in order to show the benefits of youth work. Similarly PAYP and other targeted short term funding gets in the way of process driven youth work, e.g. to stop the ‘three year mentality’. A need to reduce funding tensions was seen as important.

·         A need to maintain the values of detached youth work was seen as important.

·        Regular de-briefing sessions with staff teams are carried out in order to share information about specific areas and groups.

·        It was felt youth services needed strong leadership in order that these initiatives could be bought together. Workshops noted it was important for youth work managers to keep up face to face delivery, especially on the streets.

·        It was recommended that there be consistent presence in particular areas’, e.g. 2-3 sessions each week.

2.    Issues around the relationships between youth workers and young people:

·        There was a call for youth workers to be able to continue to work with young people because they are young people and not solely due to the issues or problems then bring.

·        Youth workers should recognise the importance of the fact that young people learn by example and that there is a need for respect and discipline when working with young people. Workers need to further debate and discuss how these issues affect their work.

·        A call to be clear with young people where youth workers stand legally and morally was felt to be particularly important, along with clarity in what we do, i.e. in our policies and procedures

·        A need for more intensive one to one support for young people was seen as important.

3.    Issues regarding the national picture:

·        It was felt there should be clear guidelines for staff along with national guidelines around how to respond to specific situations, and uniformity in training across the UK, e.g. in conflict resolution.

·        More opportunities to discuss these issues at a national level was also felt would be useful for youth workers. 

4.    Issues around risk assessments:

·        Community profiling was seen as a vital part of detached youth work that should never be skipped.

·         It was felt that youth workers need additional support in taking the risks, and that decisions around health and safety should be consultative between front line staff and management.

·        Also, it was recommended that risk assessments of specific geographical areas be carried out at regular intervals as situations change, often very quickly.

·        A suggestion to involve local young people in this information gathering should also be considered. 

·        Light conditions change with the seasons, thus changing the working conditions.

·        Workshops also noted that when safety policies were being drawn up, youth work managers need to include the issues surrounding young people possibly handling guns, knifes and other issues related to gang crimes, including consideration as to whether it is safe for staff to work or not. 

·        When completing a risk assessment personal safety of staff to always be included.

·        As part of risk assessments gather the names of young people known to be involved in violent crimes, i.e. get to know your patch. 

5.    Training issues:

·        The need for ongoing professional development training with accreditation and renewal similar to social workers was discussed. 

·        It was also felt that new youth workers should be mentored closely by more experienced workers. A suggestion was made the Federation for Detached Youth Work could adopt the role of matching new workers to placements with mentors as part of a training policy.

·         All youth workers need to have a greater understanding of our responsibilities under the law.

·         It was felt a national directive on training interventions for youth workers was needed.

·        Youth workers also need a greater understanding of the cultural issues affecting young people.

·        Training may be needed to deal with situations as they arise.

·        Staff should receive personal safety training, e.g. in martial arts. 

·        Staff need to be able to judge what is a safe situation and when to remove themselves when things become unsafe. 

·        Develop skilled workers in this area, i.e. gang workers. 

·        Maybe a web site for staff dealing with these issues regularly could be developed.

6.    Inter-agency working:

·        It was also felt that inter-agency training was important leading to greater respect and understanding of the different agencies and their roles, which would hopefully lead to more appropriate use of inter-agency working. 

·        Inter-agency work would also help prevent youth workers being seen as the 4^th emergency service by some agencies. 

·        The importance of inter-agency work being positive was noted, e.g. the summer programme on the beach at Bournemouth where Police served food from the BBQ. 

·        However a cautionary note; we need to build trusting relationships with young people, who may not trust workers, if they see them working with the Police. 

·        A need for other agencies to be more proactive in their responses rather than reactive was also seen as important.

·        Strong inter-agency work was also seen as a way of getting more cohesive and better planned responses based on the experiences of grass roots workers, with detached youth workers being able to influence/share good practice with PCSO’s, Community Wardens etc. to improve their interventions with young people, i.e. passing on an understanding of the youth work practice. 

·        However it was noted that whilst information sharing is important it should not all be one way and the other agencies needed to be prepared to share relevant information, including information on aspects of the law, with youth work staff, e.g. the Police. 

·        Developing a set of guidelines/procedures for youth work staff with Police, and other relevant agencies around zero tolerance and what to do when faced with a gun/knife, and maybe running conferences or training events on this issue. 

·        It was felt that youth workers needed to sell themselves more in order that other agencies understood and therefore respected our role more.

Discuss ideas for methods of intervention:

1. New ideas for future projects/methods of intervention:

·        Work with partners to identify young people at risk of becoming gang members, interventions such as; the CAF process; letters home to parents; other service providers to offer positive activities.

·        It was felt important to involve parents in the youth work process

·        Develop skilled workers e.g. ‘gang workers’ to get to know all issues involved.

·        Involve ex gang members to work with young people on this issue. We may need to overcome the barrier of people with criminal records being allowed to work with young people here.

·        Detached Youth Workers (dyw’s) have a duty of care to other young people, colleagues and themselves not to work with anyone they know is carrying a weapon.

·        DYW’s should use negotiation skills to overcome incidents, e.g. an incident where a knife was pulled during a group activity was dealt with when the DYW negotiated with the young person to hand the knife over, once this happened the activity then went ahead.

·        Work to be done with young people after a violent incident, i.e. enabling young people to talk about their feelings, listen to them, maybe take them away from their local environment to do this.  Maybe get specialist help i.e. counselling?

·        Youth workers need to know when and where to refer possibly traumatized young people.

·        Youth workers need to understand the limitations of their role and where their skills are.

·        Bike maintenance / repair projects involving repairing bikes donated by the Police.

·        Challenge negative media images of young people, share and promote good news stories.

·        E-mail forum/group through FDYW to share information, good practice and good news.

·        Projects bringing gang members together needs to be handled sensitively with experienced workers who have good relationships with their groups.

·        Detached youth work relationships should primarily be preventative not interventive!

2. Examples of projects already in progress from different areas

·        Getting young people out of their local environment and away from their peer groups/gang. E.g. youth exchanges, trips abroad, etc. One example of good practice was the Tall Ships expedition gang members ‘buddied’ with disabled young people. They became carers for the trip, responsible for all their personal care, feeding, toileting, etc. This proved to be positive experience for the gang members.

·        Another example of good practice, ‘Platform 2’, young people working for 8 weeks in another country and then doing a presentation (about their experiences) to their peer group on their return.

·        Give young people a chance to widen their horizons through the arts and positive activities, e.g. drama, music, dance etc. These projects can explore relevant issues, improve self-confidence and self-expression, potentially enable them to earn legal money and potentially bring rival gang members together. (Crossover Project).

·        Midnight tea stall. A church group is known to give out tea and coffee from midnight to 3am in an urban area, building relationships with young people outside night clubs. How many detached youth workers work at this time?

·        Street pastors also mentioned as having a positive influence on many young people.

·        Peace week

·        A Hip-Hop artist from USA talking to young people about his experiences as a gang member, and gains respect from the young people he addresses. (Codes of the Street)

·        Non-formal educational projects using the arts, e.g. music drama etc, leading to employment in the arts and continuing support and contact when the course is over. (Arco social inclusion)

·        Youth councils/youth democracy lobbying policy makers. (Black Boys Can).

·        Exchanges between groups in rival gangs and/or between groups of young people including gang members from different cities. (e.g. Powerhouse Moss Side and Preston groups)

·        Young women’s work to divert them from gang involvement and give them confidence to diffuse violent conflict. E.g. through media/film/music projects. Can bring young women from rival areas together. (Slip Project).

·        Young people playing sports with Police officers out of uniform (Positive Futures)

This completes the comments each of the workshops produced during the day, the following appendices show the results from the reflective logs that we asked delegates to complete:

Appendices: quotes from the reflective logs

Participants were asked to share an experience relating to knives, guns or gangs with a partner who would take notes, using the format below. All logs that were handed in for our use are copied out here. Many participants decided not to write down their experiences, or did write but preferred not to hand in their form, or in one case handed it in but asked for it not to be shared. It should be noted that not all participants were detached youth workers, and some were not youth workers at all.

Follows are the direct quotes from the forms under each of the questions which are shown here in bold italics:

1.Describe an experience from your work that involved knife, gun or gangs (group territorialism):

·        Centre-based work: disclosed info about a fight that took place outside the centre despite the worker trying to talk to some young people to prevent it.

·        A yp sleeping rough as nobody had housed due to arson issues. He posted a knife through the door of the project in front of other young people who unfortunately glorified violence and felt this was something they could aspire to.

·         Not been involved in any gun and knife related gangs, but young people use weapons e.g. bats. Young people fighting outside the centre, on the street

·        Sound off, threats, person might have to get protection / use protection. Bully – wannabe at end of tether. Wanted support from youth worker / drop-in / just out of jail – reprisal. CPS – reprisal.

·        I work with one group that use a local skate park. The group would not use a youth club. They have various issues from school problems; they are obsessed with skateboards and BMX.

·        A few years ago young person I worked with was stabbed and killed, days after leaving prison.

·        Experience mainly relates to the fear of groups of young people and perceived violence and anti-social behavior as exacerbated by media.

·        Last week – party – a kid got stabbed and died. Was someone we worked with and had last contact with him.

·        MSN chat creates problems on the street. As my group were leaving ice-skating I went to a young person after being abused, and he said his girl and another were on MSN slagging each other off, brought their boyfriends in. The two groups had a history and got in a fight.

·        The league of football teams were reputed to be from one gang and gave the league a reputation others were afraid to attend. One boy stayed with his friends, caught hitting a victim with his friends, was sent to prison, came out, got a job and is now back with his friends.

·        The youth centre where I am based used to be visited by a well-known gang and this has prevented more local young people (associated with a different gang) from attending due to territory issues.

·        Previous experience as neighborhood officer with planned fights between two groups. Involved in enforcement as section 60 power implemented so people in area of fight could be searched for weapons. Involved in searching. Nothing found but items believed discarded. Follow up work happened by other police staff. Seems to happen each school holiday period – groups try to meet for fights.

·        Group gang violence in open spaces. Elected fighters from groups, use of dogs, intimidation. Weapons present but not used. Rapid dispersal as police arrived. Very organized, using mobile phones / text. Young people unconcerned by adult presence. Girl gangs using violence against adults – intimidation and street robbery.

·        Young males from different boroughs, excluded from school, up for murder. Searched students based on informant.

·        Police called, damaged property, members of staff gave final warning.

·        Working with a local gang, 4 of them sent to custody for armed robbery recently can offer them little in youth service to affect their lives.

·        Working and running a project integrating the British and Slovakian community. An incident broke out, a knife was produced as a method to scare off staff to get them to move out of the way to get to the other group. Whilst this was going on the Slovakian group started to fight each other, when staff got scared. Police arrived and situation dispersed.

·        Recently during detached work with a friendship group, two members of the group started arguing and one threatened to slash the other with a knife. The one who was threatening had been getting teased and wound up by the others.

2. What did you do?

·        Tried to prevent fight by talking to young people.

·        He was asked to leave the project. Preventative work with the group.

·        Stepped in, separated them.

·        Personality – lack of opportunity, low self-esteem. Only source / organization supporting him, he trusts.

·        I have continually met them. They have put together a bid for funding and have developed the skate park.

·        Visited family, supported sibling over long term, made even more effort to keep in touch with young people I know who were still in prison. Supported / worked with other young people who knew him, shared grief.

·        Relationship building in local community challenging these perceptions. Work going out into community.

·        Went out onto streets, got young people to 'off-load', discussed with police.

·        We approached the new group of 14 yp who were tooled up, and advised our guys to stay where they were. The one in our group taunted the new group but gave us an excuse. He wanted to walk home on his own.

·        Was told of what happened.

·        Have tried various ways to engage the yp including MC events etc. No real impact so now work in their area (detached) rather than encouraging them to attend.

·        Involved in searching.

·        Moved younger more vulnerable young people to safe area. Workers did not intervene in the fight. Called police.

·        Ongoing sessions with young people, mentoring, resolve situation, on-going monitoring, approachable 'near young age' organize meeting.

·        Ran a Youth Inclusion Project, intervention programmes to help them back into education / employment and training. Devised workshops with ex-gang members and ex-offenders. But these males had lived a certain lifestyle, and couldn't offer them the money they achieve from their offending.

·        I went upstairs to support my staff with the Slovak community. I separated and controlled many groups that were fighting. Assured other frightened young people.

·        Two workers got bodily in his way while talking calmly to him, pointing out they were just winding him up, it's not worth it etc. The other worker tried to persuade the rest of the group to go home, which they did after few mins.

3. How did you feel?

·        Youth worker felt frustrated, as he did not have control of the situation.

·        Didn't feel threatened as we knew the yp. Concerned he was isolated, surrounded by issues that weren't always being dealt with.

·        Just wanted to prevent them from escalating into something else.

·        Accepted by the group and the feeling of trust and respect has built up.

·        Upset, grieved. Proud to be accepted by family and friends as a member of community. But isolated in terms of colleague support. Some colleagues didn't understand. My manager had same experience many times over, as did most of the young people, and in some ways they were unemotional: to protect themselves.

·        Effect on young people – everyone vanished.

·        Annoyed he would not listen.

·        The boy does not know how not to be involved.

·        Frustrated that simply by one group attending the service others were excluded due to fear / gang-related issues.

·        Overwhelmed by amount of young people involved in it.

·        Wanted to intervene but felt it would be too dangerous to workers and young people.

·        Frustrated, could not do much, out of hands, no feedback.

·        Worried; cannot panic; happy outcome.

·        Very despondent about it and disappointed. Don't feel that any of them appreciate the impact and seriousness of what has happened.

·        Strangely calm. I knew my role and what I had to do.

·        Ok, quite confident; it happens fairly often, he listened to us because he knew us and seemed to want someone to stop him. But at the same time, afraid, because this type of situation can easily end in serious injury or death (and over so little).

4. What happened next?

·        The police were called in the end and made matters worse. The incident was dealt with out of court.

·        We talked to the group and this lad didn't come into the project again. We challenged the group's perceptions about status and what knifes and carrying them afford them.

·        Was able to calm situation down.

·        They want to go on a residential holiday as a group.

·        Nobody dared to be a witness. Family left country eventually, I kept in touch with them for a while by letter.

·        Still in the middle of this situation.

·        I feel another incident will happen.

·        Outreach / detached work developed in key locations where young people are happy to engage.

·        Follow-up visits occurred with parents and young people by police. Acceptable Behaviour Contracts etc.

·        Fight continued, 2 yp injured. Group dispersed when police arrived (20 mins later). Took injured yp to hospital for treatment.

·        They have been sentenced from 5 – 10 years. Has impacted on the rest of the group. They have taken it lightly and that's what they have to do, it's ingrained.

·        Statements were made, spoke to Slovakian young people, mentioned they had put everyone at risk, they found it funny.

·        We walked home with him, on the way we met a group of girls who had heard about the near-fight and seemed to want to wind him up even more, but I asked them what they thought he should do and they agreed he was over-reacting. He seemed to listen to them, and went home, but still very angry and still saying he would slash the other boy.

5. What would you do differently?

·        I wish I had attended his funeral, looking back I was young myself and in shock, and it happened while I was away, but it was important for me to grieve.

·        Employ more quality workers to continue work like this.

·        Too early to say.

·        Help young people to think for themselves and give ways of leaving the group.

·        I have no idea! Tried many strategies!

·        Situation developed so quickly we could do little else.

·        Need to open services to all even dangerous young people with correct risk strategies for staff and equipment. This is a management issue.

·        Nothing.

·        If we knew this group better we'd be in a more influential position with them. Need to be on their estate more than once (occasionally twice) a week.

6. Any other comments?

·        Develop a better sustainable funding source.

·        It is often the most vulnerable young gang members who are killed and who go to prison, but they are portrayed in the media as dangerous monsters.

·        Work needs to be done on not being involved but keeping friends and street credibility.

·        Is a real issue for any events / area programmes etc. Too many areas are 'no go' areas due to gang issues / territoriality. More sustainable funding and resources needed! More youth workers!

·        'do not share' form about a yp who has stopped attending sessions due to fear of reprisals because he stabbed someone.

This concludes all the data collected from the Gun, Knife and Gang Seminar.

Conclusion

As was explained in the introduction, we have deliberately refrained from drawing conclusions from the data in this document. Rather it is intended as reportage; a snapshot of some workers experiences of the issues discussed.

We hope, however, that the document will be useful – we have simply failed to prescribe its use. We would appreciate it, however, if colleagues are to make use of the document that they keep the Federation informed of this, as we would be keen to be given the opportunity to contribute to any further research, discussions and dialogue in this field.

Many Thanks,

Kevin Jones

Chair

The Federation for Detached Youth Work

Key Notation

The Federation for Detached Youth Work

c/o The National Youth Agency

19-21 Humberstone Road

Leicester

LE5 3GJ

Tel: 0116 242 7490

Email: fdyw@nya.org.uk