Play

Graphic ads target knife crime

Published: Thursday, 29 May 2008, 7:35AM

Horrific photos of real stab wounds are being used in a new campaign against knife crime.

The graphic images feature in "viral" internet and mobile phone adverts.

One shows a man with a Swiss army knife and a screwdriver sticking out of his chest.

Others show exposed intestines which have emerged from a knife wound, a leg which has become gangrenous after a knife attack, the hand of a victim whose thumb has been severed and deep wounds to the bone.

The campaign hopes to drive home the message that people who carry knives are more likely to become stab victims.

The real images from a medical photo library appear as slides being used to illustrate a fictional medical lecture - accompanied by a script which was overseen by a trauma surgeon.

The two-minute scene is accompanied by a second viral advert depicting "CCTV" footage - performed by actors - of a knife stabbing on a shopping street.

Both sequences will be distributed through social networking websites such as Bebo and on mobile phones.

Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) spokesman on knife crime, Alf Hitchcock, said: "Knife crime causes massive grief and pain to both victims' families and their communities.

"This campaign will encourage young people to realise that they should speak to one another, their parents and others around them for support.

"It should be remembered that you are more likely to be a victim of knife crime by carrying a knife, rather than a knife protecting you.

"Anyone caught carrying a knife is committing a serious offence and the police are being welcomed by local communities to stamp out this menace."

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the most common weapon used in teenage stabbings is a kitchen knife

Sir Ian said his officers have carried out more than 400 operations during a two-week blitz on knife-carrying thugs.

Speaking at New Scotland Yard today, he revealed that almost 200 weapons had been seized and more than 200 people have been arrested.

Senior officers revealed some of the weapons haul, which included several six-inch carving knives, smaller kitchen blades and craft and pen knives.

Sir Ian said: "The Met has stepped up its operations with the support of the community. We have put search arches in place and in the last two weeks carried out more than 400 stop and search operations with more than 200 arrests and nearly 200 weapons seized.

"You are now more likely to be stopped and searched. If you are stopped and searched, you will be arrested if you are carrying a knife. If you are arrested, you are likely to be prosecuted.

"To parents, it is tough love time. In addition to conversations about drink, drugs and relationships, there is now conversations about knives.

"The most common knife involved in these deaths is a knife from the kitchen and we must have conversations about knife crime with teenagers."

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.