Welcome this drop of Youth Updates all about criminal exploitation of young people. We invited two guest experts, from the youth charity Phase Trust, to chat with us regarding what the scope of this looks like right now.
Phase Trust, founded nearly 25 years ago, works with children and young people across the West Midlands through five specific streams. These streams are personal development (primary age), personal development (secondary age), family, exploitation and harmful sexual behaviour. For more information head to: https://phasetrust.org.uk/
We are joined by Hannah Hughes, exploitation and community engagement lead, and Pete Allen, male exploitation lead.
For the full conversation, listen to our podcast here or on Spotify/Apple Music.
From your perspective, what are the biggest concerns you see when it comes to young people who are affected by criminal exploitation?
Pete: For me the biggest concern is young people carrying knives. A lot of young people we work with will say they go out on the streets and do carry weapons. For me, it’s helping them understand the consequences of doing that and trying to change their opinions on that, whilst keeping them safe at the same time.
Another one, which is massive, is social media. Young people are into music and within social media there are a lot of diss tracks they will aim at one another.
(A diss track is a music track disrespecting someone and talking against the other person in a negative way; making them look silly. A bit like a boxing match, but with music where it can go back and forth. A fight, but using words and music.)
It’s not just around the music [on social media], but what people post on Snapchat, Instagram etc. Social media is an amazing thing, but it can be a dangerous thing as well.
These (knives and social media) are the two biggest concerns for me.
Hannah: I 100% agree. One to add to that is drugs. We can’t really do our job without talking about drugs. When we look at exploitation, it’s rare that drugs or alcohol hasn’t been involved. Recently, a drug alert has been released across the country because there are contaminated drugs; the kind young people would take. They’re contaminated with stronger opioids where they can be between 50-500 times more potent than heroin.
It’s a pretty big thing and it’s rare (we don’t want people panicking), but it is there and something we need to be aware of. So many young people think drugs are no big deal and it’s been normalised. When we were younger, taking a pill or snorting cocaine was quite a big deal, whereas now it’s normalised behaviour to just pop a pill at a party. There’s a difference in how young people view drugs now compared to five or ten years ago.
With the strength of drugs rising and young people not being aware of the impact, having conversations with young people and raising the ricks of overdoses becomes more vital.
In terms of these things (knife crime, social media, drugs) – how commonly do you see these things in youth culture and amongst young people?
Pete: It happens a lot more than you think, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for then you may not understand what’s going on.
Hannah: We don’t want to freak people out. In normal youthwork, especially in churches it might just be one, two or a handful who are vulnerable or at risk of this stuff. In terms of drug use; it is on the rise and there’s an increase in carrying weapons too. We don’t want people thinking their whole youth ministries are going to turn overnight, but we are seeing increases in all these areas so young people, as a population, are going to have an increase in this too and you have to be aware some of this is happening and it could be with the young people you least expect.
For those who regularly encounter young people, what would you recommend for them to be aware of and how to help with some of this stuff?
Pete: Lots. For example, if they are appearing with brand new clothes they can’t explain how they got, they have multiple phones, changes in behaviour or demeanour or the way they talk (eg. Using more slang or ghetto talk).
Hannah: It might be parents noticing things going missing in the house or young people wanting to sell their Xbox or trying to get money for things they’d normally see as quite precious. Also, young people going missing. It could be that they only go missing for an hour. It doesn’t’ mean it’ll be all over Facebook as a missing child, but it could be just regularly missing periods of time – for example, from education. It doesn’t have to be overnight; it could just be not seeing them for a couple of hours after school or they normally come to your youth group then suddenly they’re not.
Pete: As well, just because we’ve said these things, it doesn’t mean that they are in a gang or involved in crime. Follow it up and gather information. Don’t just assume. It’s about gathering more intel.
Hannah: Our biggest thing is relationship. You will notice changes if you have good relationships with young people in your schools or youth groups. If you’re building relationships with them then hopefully, they’ll come and talk to you about stuff they’re struggling with but also, you’ll be in a position to notice things changing.
If someone thinks a young person is involved in criminal exploitation, what should they do?
Hannah: Different areas have different processes. We are involved with our local authorities but, if there are immediate concerns, then it’s children’s services. We have a whole process where we do screening tools and forms have to be filled out. It would be whatever people’s safeguarding processes are but there’ll be loads of services out there locally which should be able to have that impact.
Violence reduction partnerships (VRPs) are linked with the police but are home office funded. Every area should have a VRP, so people should be able to find out who their VRP is. They can offer training, provide drug and alcohol services and so on. It’s finding out what’s in place for you in your area and seeing what training and services they offer.
If you’re in a school, then follow their safeguarding procedure and they should know who to talk to. If you’re struggling to know where and who to go to, then your local school should be able to help.
Word Of The Month
This month we have not one but three words for you!
‘shank’ – a knife
‘chef’ – a knife
‘fed’- a police officer
For the full conversation, stories and further information on Phase Trust please check out the full podcast.