Wiltshire Police has launched a year-long pilot programme, the first in England and Wales, to work with an educational psychologist to help prevent young people from becoming involved in knife crime. The initiative, funded by the Home Office, will train officers to better understand vulnerable children and provide specialist support to those identified as being at risk of offending.
Dr. Brooke Hamblin, an educational psychologist, will train frontline officers on how factors such as trauma, disabilities, and additional needs can influence a young person's behaviour and increase their vulnerability to crime. She will also conduct individual casework with six young people from the county who are not in education, work, or training and have additional needs.
The pilot comes after knife crime in Wiltshire increased by 6% in the year to May 2026, contrasting with a national decrease in such offences. Supt Mike Vass, Wiltshire Police's knife crime lead, stated the force aims for a more preventative approach, even though the county's overall knife crime rates are low.
Jo Davis, co-founder of Owen's World, a charity set up in memory of Owen Dunn who was fatally stabbed in 2022, expressed belief that such an intervention could have saved his life. The project's results will be assessed to determine if it could be implemented more widely or extended.