New Forest District Council committed to reducing weapons crime
19 May 2025
We have hosted and delivered a three day weapons prevention training programme to education, youth service, and community safety professionals.
From 29 April to 1 May 2025, 17 education and youth service professionals and community safety officers attended the training, which was hosted by the council's community safety team.
The training sessions aimed to provide attendees with the ability to support young people in making positive choices, and covered topics such as weapon possession law, contributing factors towards owning weapons, and the consequences and impact of knife crime on individuals, families, and communities.
Local charity Changes Are Made (CAM), who raise awareness about the dangers of knife possession, also presented at the training to discuss the lasting impact of knife crime.
Cllr Dan Poole, Portfolio Holder for Community, Safety, and Wellbeing, said: "Reducing incidents of serious violence, including possession of weapons, is a key priority for our Safer New Forest partnership. Weapons related crime remains comparatively low in the district, and we're committed to reducing this further.
We have delivered training across schools, youth groups, and at post court interventions over the years, and we're ensuring ongoing resilience and shared learning so that we can continue to support and protect our communities."
More information about how we are continuing to target crime and antisocial behaviour is available at https://safer.newforest.gov.uk
More information:
Safer New Forest is a partnership that consists of partner agencies such as New Forest District Council, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Probation.
The training programme supports Safer New Forest's priority of addressing incidents of weapons possession and reducing incidents of serious violence in the district.
Following completion of the training, attendees were provided with ongoing course content and learning material, lesson plans, pre course risk assessments, disposal guidance, and a weapons safety box for surrendered items.
The council will continue to support educational providers by attending quality assurance visits during lessons to assist with tutor development.
We were provided with funding from the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner's (OPCC) to support the delivery of the training programme.
Following the sessions, participants were asked to complete a feedback form about us and the training programme. Out of the 17 participants questioned, 16 responded to give a 5 star rating of 'excellent' for the training, with the remaining one participant giving a 4 star rating.
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