Dear Merseyside
Spoken word is being used as a medium to educate young people about a Home Office-backed project designed to break down gang culture and make Merseyside safer.
Merseyside Police and partners are approaching the fight against serious and organised crime from a new angle with ‘Dear Merseyside’ which has rolled out to secondary schools in EVOLVE areas – those worst affected by serious criminality.
‘Dear Merseyside’ is in essence a love letter to the county created by 21-year-old Liverpool poet Joseph Roberts that features problems touching on gang culture and knife crime before talking about solutions and reflecting on the ‘love where you live’ ethos behind EVOLVE.
Children have been receiving assemblies from Joseph and exploitation prevention charity Catch22 where they learn about Joseph’s journey and how to spot signs of exploitation before taking part in small-group workshops where they learn to write their own versions of ‘Dear Merseyside’ focusing on ways to improve our communities.
The powerful poem was commissioned by Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council using funding from the Merseyside Police Commissioner as part of the EVOLVE operation.
EVOLVE is Merseyside’s response to the Home Office’s Clear, Hold, Build strategy. This sees police and partners working together long-term to rid neighbourhoods of organised crime groups and build up community resilience to help protect the vulnerable and prevent further serious criminality to make these areas safer for generations to come.
EVOLVE projects are taking place in Netherton (Park Lane area), Wirral (Noctorum, Beechwood and Woodchurch), Liverpool and Knowsley (Dovecot, Yew Tree, Page Moss, Longview and Huyton) and in Everton and parts of Vauxhall.
The ‘Dear Merseyside’ project launched at a media event in the Odeon, Liverpool One shortly before Christmas featuring talks from Joseph Roberts, Catch22, Everton in the Community and the LFC Foundation to highlight the dangers of exploitation while showcasing some of the diversionary work taking place in the region to improve futures.
The event was attended by more than 120 schoolchildren from EVOLVE schools, the families of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Ashley Dale, Sam Rimmer and Elle Edwards, and partner agencies.
Deputy Chief Constable Chris Green said: “We recognise that if we want to continue making a big difference to the reduction of serious criminality, we need to be part of a solution that includes young people and that we make positive changes to their attitudes from a young age.
“We hope the ‘Dear Merseyside’ project will empower children to be able to reject the traps set by gangs by encouraging them to see the devastation criminality causes and the importance of reaching out for help, while reflecting on all the positives to living in our fantastic region.
"The project will encourage them to think about problem-solving and we will help them to bring their own ideas to the table, which we hope can contribute to making Merseyside safer.
“We are committed to making a difference in Merseyside and tackling serious and organised crime in any way that we can. Young people are our future and we are determined to make sure that their futures remain bright.”
While Liverpool is currently celebrating the year of the spoken word literacy rates in Merseyside are among the lowest in the UK.
Deputy Chief Constable Green added: “This is a sad statistic and we want to do our bit to change it while hopefully creating safer futures by addressing issues related to serious and organised crime through artform and spoken word.
“We already work extensively with young people and partners on various projects such as diversionary opportunities with our Project Medusa team, a VR initiative with Everton in the Community, and Operation Prospect which is currently delivering workshops to 3,000 young people across Merseyside about the dangers of gun and gang crime as well as seeking to change their perceptions about the role we play in keeping communities safe.
“We have recently given funding seized from criminals to the Ariel Trust to expand their ‘Grassing or Grooming?’ programme to include pupils in Key Stage One as well as Key Stage Two to help support them identify when they are being groomed and how to report it.
“And we have several campaigns such as VAWG, Silence is Not an Option and Eyes Open that aim to educate young people, their parents and carers about various dangers such as violence against women and girls, the importance of coming forward with information and the deceptive tactics used by county lines gangs.”
Any young person wishing to report a crime anonymously can do so by visiting Fearless, part of the national charity Crimestoppers or calling 0800 555 111.