In Liverpool, where last month 11-year-old Rhys Jones was killed in Croxteth as he played football, children as young as five are being given lessons by the local police on the dangers of guns.
Kitted out in full bullet-proof armour and carrying their own guns, officers from the Merseyside Police anti-gang and gun Matrix team have been delivering short, role play-based sessions in primary schools, warning children about the dangers of falling into a criminal lifestyle.
Figures released by Merseyside Police in May show that 48 under-18s were arrested for gun crimes during 2006. The youngest offenders were just 12. The youngest of the 141 caught for knife crimes was only 11. Figures also show children as young as ten have been arrested for robbery and burglary, and another 141 under-18s arrested for the most serious Class A drugs offences.
Detective superintendent Geoff Sloan, who oversees the project, says, 'By the time that children get to secondary school it is a bit late to start teaching them about gangs and gun crime. We decided to speak to five- to seven-year-olds to teach them that picking up a gun or becoming involved in gangs is a slippery slope that could end with them being locked away or even killed.'
The primary schools project is part of a police strategy that aims to nip the problem of juvenile crime in the bud. PC Neil Thomas of the Matrix team, who delivers some of the sessions, believes that highlighting dangers earlier can stop children getting involved. 'We put on a role play in the language the children can understand and get our message across,' he says.
During the role plays, police officers enact the part of a teenager who is arrested and taken off to prison for a gun-related crime. 'The children really start thinking about what it must be like to be locked up, that you won't be seeing friends and family for a very long time,' says one local head teacher whose pupils have already taken part in the project. 'At the same time, the sessions give children reassurance that the police are dealing with those involved in gun crime in a firm but fair manner.'
Anne Elford, head teacher of Windsor Community Primary School, thinks the project is a fantastic idea. 'I am going to get in touch with my local police officer straight away,' she says. 'Our children are regularly exposed to guns and gun crime in the community, and there is no reason why very young children can't get something positive from listening to what is for them a very relevant and important message.'
With funding from Greater Merseyside Connexions, 25 schools have taken part so far. Merseyside police plan to roll the programme out across the whole of the city over the next few years. 'We want to raise awareness of the issues with as many youngsters as possible,' says Geoff Sloan.
The police project is endorsed by Marie McCourt from Merseyside SAMM (Support After Murder and Manslaughter), the local branch of a national organisation offering emotional support and help for families and friends bereaved by murder and manslaughter. She says, 'The children are at the right age to absorb what is said and remember what they are told.'
Paula Ogunboro founded Liverpool's Mothers Against Guns after her son, Eugene, was shot dead three years ago. Although she believes that older children are more likely to understand the messages being given out during the sessions delivered by the police, she says she sees the value of talking to younger children about the issues surrounding gun culture and crime. 'Anything we can do to take guns off the streets is good.'