Met Police Officer Doesn't Know "How The Hell" Chicken Boxes Message Will Stop Knife Crime

15 August 2019, 17:27

This Met police officer told David Lammy he doesn't know "how the hell" the Home Office's campaign to distribute 300,000 chicken boxes carrying anti-knife messages will stop young people re-offending.

Chicken boxes featuring warnings about the dangers of carrying a knife have been sent to takeaways in England and Wales as part of a government campaign.

Real life stories of young people who chose positive activities over carrying a weapon are printed inside the boxes.

But a Violent Crime Taskforce Officer for The Met who works in north-west London doesn't think they'll be effective. He told David Lammy:

"If I'm being honest with you, this message on the box for me goes sort of like the cigarettes message on the box, it doesn't stop people smoking.

"Not that I'm dismissing the idea. At the end of the day the people we're dealing with on a daily basis, a lot of them are re-offenders, a lot of these are 15, 16, 14, 13 year old children.

"If they're getting arrested and going to the youth offending team to have meetings - and they're still going out and offending again - how the hell is a message on a chicken box going to stop them re-offending?"

David Lammy Brands #KnifeFree Chicken Box Campaign "Insane"