Youth safety initiative StreetW!se has launched a new school poster campaign in Richmond to educate young people on the importance of keeping safe on the capital’s streets.
The StreetW!se posters will be displayed in every primary and secondary, state and private school in the borough and have already received positive feedback.
Richmond residents Barbara Lingle-Elliott and Felicity Barkus founded StreetW!se in early 2019 after noticing several school-aged pupils, who were of similar ages to their sons, were getting mugged in the area.
Barkus said: “The poster gives much greater longevity to the program and we think it has enormous legs.
“Young people, teachers, visitors, parents, everyone who sees them will connect with them because they’re bright, colourful, and very appealing.”
Despite having the reputation of being a safe borough in London, Barkus stated that the number of youth muggings in south Richmond reached a height of two muggings on average per day.
She went on to share that her nephew was mugged in broad daylight, while living on a very busy road in Richmond.
To continue spreading awareness about youth crime and educating others on how to tackle it, the duo will be rolling up the new StreetW!se posters and hand-delivering them to Richmond schools, including those that have yet to run their safety assemblies.
Lingle-Elliott said: “If you see that message of eyes up, or the 999 phone number over and over, at least one of those messages will be absorbed by your brain.
“All the kids need this and lots of adults need this.
“It’s teen on teen, they’re watching you, and they’ve studied you.
“They’ve studied the groups that come out of the school, they’ve studied the quiet kid on their own.
“So they’re professional, they might be 16 or 15 or 14, but they are professionals.
“We really want this to extend beyond our wonderful streets because we obviously think that it has so much benefit to all.”
The pair explained that when they realised their children’s friends were becoming targets and victims of muggings in Richmond, they contacted Richmond Council and the police to see what preventative measures could be implemented.
Barkus said: “It was just a cold email to say ‘Hi, we’re concerned about this, can we meet and talk about it and find out how we can help?’.”
In the meantime, the pair began compiling a spreadsheet of muggings which had occurred in the borough but went unreported to the police, which they took to a Police Liaison Group (PLG) meeting.
PLGs occur between four to six times a year and are an opportunity for residents to speak to the local police team and council representatives regarding any concerns they have.
After the meeting, the women found that their worries about the state of youth safety in Richmond were shared by parents and residents in the borough, leading them to set up the local action group Mothers Against Muggings (MAM).
Subsequently, the pair launched the StreetW!se programme in collaboration with the Met Police and The Richmond upon Thames Community Safety Partnership (CSP).
Lingle-Elliott said: “We were just as concerned about the kids getting mugged as the kids who were doing the mugging.
“We are not a punitive group in any way, we really wanted to know why, why are these kids doing this and how can we help them?”
In the meantime, the duo took to Facebook to connect with the community and inform them of events and clubs their children could get involved with, offering productive alternatives to committing crime.
Lingle-Elliott explained: “It was really building that community around all of the kids and not just the kids being mugged.
“We want to save everybody’s kids, we just don’t want anybody to get mugged.”
Thus far, the StreetW!se programme has produced tangible results with a decrease in youth muggings by 49.5% in the area.
A crucial part of the StreetW!se programme is the 15-minute safety assemblies which Lingle-Elliott and Barkus deliver in Richmond schools to pupils in years six through to sixth form – they have presented these to more than 10,000 pupils in the borough so far.
Recognising the importance of tailoring the safety assemblies to different age groups, the pair take a gentler approach when teaching younger year groups, such as how to stay safe when walking to school alone and alerting them to dangers when crossing the road.
For the older children, they cover topics like consent and advice on preparing for university, which they both joked their sons, who have just left for university, didn’t want to hear.
Also part of the campaign are the StreetW!se travel card holders, which include key personal safety messages and emergency contact numbers funded by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit.
Barkus said: “We make the children aware of what happens, how it happens and when it happens in what areas, at what sort of time.
“Also who it is, and how to protect themselves with our safety messages, and then, if something happens, what should they do.”
Lingle-Elliott added: “It’s teen on teen that this is happening, in front of the school in broad daylight.”
She went on to emotionally recount how one of their friend’s sons, who is around six-foot-three, had been mugged on Richmond Green at knifepoint when he was 18 years old.
Lingle-Elliott further explained the son had said he would never forget the feeling of having a knife held at his throat.
She said: “When we deliver our assemblies, that part of the assembly is mine.
“I choke up every time… I don’t want anybody to feel that.”
The StreetW!se assemblies have provided children with a safe space to open up about their own experiences and recognise the breadth of the issue that is youth crime.
One pupil told the women that their brother had been mugged with a knife ring – a type of knife that is concealed within a finger ring.
Lingle-Elliott said: “That stopped Felicity in our tracks, and we’re like, what is a knife ring?
“Nobody should go through this not knowing what a knife ring is.”
The assemblies have received positive feedback from parents, teachers and children in schools, as demonstrated by a pupil from Richmond Upon Thames School who said they had learnt what to do if they were to get mugged.
Another child expressed they had learnt the importance of being aware of their surroundings, especially if in a new area.
The women also observed a shift in the messages they were receiving from parents, reinforcing that their assemblies were working.
Instead of asking them for guidance after their child had been mugged, parents began expressing their gratitude to StreetW!se after their child had handled situations concerning their safety well, using the advice given in assemblies.
Lingle-Elliott said: “The messages showed the children felt confident.
“They knew how to handle the muggings and they weren’t on the back foot.
“If every kid has that confidence, that’s a win for us.”
In response to the initiative, Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham said: “Although we live in one of the safest boroughs in London, our area is not immune from crime.
“I know from talking to teenagers in our local schools that muggings and knife crime are, sadly, worries that are on many young people’s minds.”
Wilson further expressed gratitude towards Richmond Council associated groups like Mothers Against Muggings, thanking them for their work on keeping young people safe.
Although StreetW!se has contributed to the reduction of youth crime in the area, Barkus and Lingle-Elliott still believe more can be done, hence their recent poster campaign.
They explained that from their work with parents and young people so far, they understand many children are scared about how their parents are going to react when they tell them they have been mugged, fearing they’ll get into trouble.
Barkus said: “A big message in our StreetW!se assemblies is to encourage young people to report the crime immediately.”
She further explained some parents have concerns about the ramifications on their child’s mental health, which may be exacerbated if interviewed by the police, and some parents believe the crime may be too minor to report or it won’t be followed up.
From what the pair found from working with the police, they believe that only a third of muggings are reported.
Barkus said: “Not reporting crimes can underinflate the statistics, meaning resources will get allocated elsewhere.
“If we want change to happen in a community, we have to work as a community to solve the problem.”
For more information on how to stay safe, or to request a poster, visit the Mothers Against Mugging official site.
