I visited Team Pumpkin boxing gym in Brierley Hill to see the recently installed police knife bin outside the building.
I am working with local groups and organisations, including Team Pumpkin, to tackle knife crime in the West Midlands. I held my second Knife Crime Summit earlier this month.
I met with the gym’s founder Carl Collins and was joined on the visit by Ade Passey – the father of Ryan Passey, who was killed by a knife in Stourbridge and Jason Connon who runs the Justice for Ryan campaign that Suzanne supports.
Ade and Jason came along to support the gym and encourage all it is doing to tackle knife crime.
The gym is also keen to support the Justice for Ryan campaign and is advertising a police appeal for people to come forward and spread the word.
I heard the gym was a good location to have the knife bin as one of the criteria is that there has to be no CCTV and discreet so that people can dispose of knives anonymously.
We need to keep raising awareness of the tragic consequences of knife crime and how, as a community, we can all work together to take knives off our streets and save lives.
This visit did all those things as we came together as committed campaigners to highlight a practical way we can take these weapons off the streets by installing a knife bin.
Many thanks to Team Pumpkin for installing the bin outside the gym and to Ade and Jason who remain an inspiration to everyone because of their campaign to seek justice for Ryan but also their tireless work to stop the same terrible thing happening to another tragedy.
I remain committed to their cause and I will do all I can to get the justice they crave. I also remain committed to removing knives from our streets. This is an issue we must all face and I am so pleased to have the support of so many great people.
