Bucks Youth Summit 2023 – Feeling Safe and Protected
Format
The Feeling Safe and Protected conversation space was hosted in the Ambassador Lounge at the Waterside Theatre. This was a private space with red carpet and chairs laid out.
The conversation space was hosted by Thames Valley Police and the Violence Reduction Unit, and three sixth form students from Oxfordshire acted as young facilitators.
Young people that chose to visit this conversation space were first welcomed and introduced to the topic. They were then invited to stand up and help to answer two key questions:
- What causes crime and violence?
- How can we prevent crime and violence?
The young people’s comments were written on sticky notes and added to big sheets.
What did young people say?
The key themes that young people raised in response to the questions are below. You can see all of the sticky note responses further down the page.
What causes crime and violence?
- Lack of boundaries / ineffective parenting when growing up
- Negative factors in the environment around you
- Trauma
- Substances
- Money troubles
- Social media
- Peer pressure / the pressure to fit in
- Gangs and exploitation
- Gratification and getting away with it
How can we prevent crime and violence?
- Improving the environment around us
- Initiatives in schools
- Investing in services
- Education and personal development
- Developing reporting systems
- Improving Police relations
- Investing in crime prevention infrastructure and systems
- Clarifying and developing consequences
- Early intervention
So what?
Following the Bucks Youth Summit 2023…
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VRU web article
The Violence Reduction Unit published a web article about the day.
View the article on the VRU website
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More youth engagement by the VRU
The Violence Reduction Unit are setting up a series of one-day workshops with young people aged 13-18 from a range of backgrounds. These workshops will centre on co-designing some new communications / behavioural change educational resources. These resources will then be tested by the Violence Reduction Unit to see how impactful they are.
The Violence Reduction Unit are seeking partners to work with on this project, such as voluntary sector agencies, other existing youth groups, and schools. If you work with young people and are interested in getting involved, please email tim.wiseman@thamesvalley.police.uk.
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The new Serious Violence Strategy & Action plan
Buckinghamshire Council’s Community Safety team will incorporate the feedback received from young people in the Feeling Safe and Protected Conversation Space into a new Serious Violence Strategy and its accompanying action plan.
Full responses:
What causes crime and violence?
Below you can read all of the responses that the young people gave. We have grouped them into themes.
Lack of boundaries / ineffective parenting when growing up
- Boundaries growing up
- Lack of parental [boundaries/guidance]
- Brought up
- Parental issue
- Difficult background
- The way you’re raised up
- Each household has its own rules
- Parents don’t interfere
Negative factors in the environment around you
- People you grew up around
- The area you’re in
- Certain areas / theft
- Different influences
- School environment
- Antisocial
- Attitude towards crime, parents, environment, especially school
- Not getting opportunities
- Access for help
Trauma
- Past experience
- Bullied, bullies
- Death of a loved one
- Isolation
- Isolation –> not being able to trust
- Depression, mental health
- Influenced by racism, hate crime
Substances
- Alcohol
- Vaping –> addiction
Money troubles
- Money
- Cost of living crisis
- Income
- Options
- Needs
- Jobs, earning a living
- Lack of resources
- Protecting someone
- How much stuff cost
- Shoplifting
- Wanting something you want
- Greed
- Greed
- English love free stuff
- Nicking stuff from shops then selling them
- Open talking on stealing things –> lack of role models
Social media
- Social media presence
- Social media
- Social media
- Social media
- Influence & pressure
- Online social media
- Cool on tiktok, not in real life
Peer pressure / the pressure to fit in
- People who you hang out with
- Peer pressured
- Peer groups
- Fitting / joining in
- Trends
- Attention seekers
- Social skills
- People think they cool
- Street cred
- Relationship, friendship, discrimination
- Doing things to be cool
- Imitating someone they look up to
- Attention
- Messing about
- Gangs + pressure
Gangs & exploitation
- Gangs, exploitation
- Gangs / drugs
- Blackmailing, manipulation
- Drug dealers gone wrong
- Disputes & arguments
- Trying to get back revenge
Gratification & getting away with it
- Adrenaline
- Getting away with crime
- the Buzz
- Reward greater than risk
- Blinded by the mood
- Small punishment
Full responses:
How can we prevent crime and violence?
Below you can read all of the responses that the young people gave. We have grouped them into themes.
Improving the environment around us
- Having good role models
- Lots of positive role models
- Access and opportunity to people who cannot afford to attend certain services
- Presentation of areas
- Making sure you have access to a trusted person
- Feeling safe in your own home and outside
- Presence of other clubs – e.g. boxing, social skills
- Surrounding yourself with positive people / friends
- Telling a trusted person
Initiatives in schools
- Having older students around to prevent fights and violence
- Prefects lower down in the school
- Stamping out bullying to prevent future crime
Investing in services
- Support for mental health
- Mental health checks?
- Social services
- Better protection for the vulnerable
- More financial support
- Support for parenting
Education and personal development
- Education around severe incidents and potential outcomes
- Education around crime
- More police-related events and talks
- Making sure people are aware of consequences
- Making sure people know their own rights
- More education in schools, not just knife crime
- Guidance from experienced people with lived experience
- Making sure people are aware crime in glamorised in the media
- Understanding that crime isn’t just what is shown in the media
- Knowing when to walk away
- Knowing when to step away from a situation
- Knowing how to protect yourself
- Knowing when to look after each other and being mindful of yourself
- Knowing what to do in certain situations
Developing reporting systems
- Anonymous reporting
- Encouraging people to report crime
- Remove stigma around reporting
- Platforms for reporting cyber crime
Improving Police relations
- Improve relationships between people and the police
- Building trust between people and the police
- More police present –> problem with numbers
Investing in crime prevention infrastructure and systems
- Better camera quality?
- More CCTV and signage
- Making alcohol inaccessible for younger people and vaping
- Following through with asking for ID
- Better lighting in dark areas
Clarifying and developing consequences
- Actual helpful consequences
- Enforcement of rules in place to prevent crime
- Being caught vs consequence
- Prison –> goes on record
Early intervention
- Stopping crime at the root
- Reporting crimes early on
