Stourbridge knife crime victims call for more education for children
Two elderly victims of a violent car jacking have called for more to be done to educate young people around the dangers of knife crime.
Josephine and her husband Colin, both 71, were threatened with a knife at their home in Stourbridge last month as a masked thug demanded the keys to their Volkswagen Golf.
The pair have remained resilient since the attack and have spoken out about what they want to see done to help tackle the knife crime epidemic gripping the region.
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Josephine said: "I think these people just need to grow up, they need to get to their senses. But it's so difficult. They do not seem to have any respect for the community or anything. You wonder what sort of culture they are growing up in today, where are their role models?
"Police are trying very hard but it seems like an epidemic at the moment with all this knife crime.
"I think they need educating in the primary schools and police officers going in and explaining what consequences can occur. They need to be told very straight at a very early age.
"Schools are very strong on sex education but why don't they have officers coming in and talking about knife crime? It needs to be instilled in them at a very early age, it is no good when they're late teenagers because they've got into groups and gangs by then.
"It is not only schools I think it needs to come from the homes as well. Parents have a lot of responsibility for their own children and I think really they have to take some responsibility for what is happening with knife crime, it is not all schools and police.
"I don't know the answer really but it would be great if these youngsters could hand these knives in at the knife bins around the region."
WATCH: Couple recall terrifying car-jacking at hands of knife wielding thug
West Midlands Police does visit schools as part of its crime prevention campaigns but said the difficulty it faces is trying to each every pupil at every school in the region.
