Primary school pupils will be educated on the dangers of knife crime as part of police plans to stop the next generation of young people carrying blades.
Last year, Nottinghamshire Police put aside more than £500,000 to be spent on 11 officers who were assigned to secondary schools to reduce the number of youngsters arming themselves.
Police said that studies show that perpetrators who spiral into serious violent crime later in life were often first caught with a knife as young as 11.
The new programme is now aimed at primary school pupils across Nottinghamshire, addressing knife crime, hate crime, drugs and alcohol.
The DARE 25 programme aims to equip youngsters - aged 10 to 11 - with increased awareness through the use of role play, videos, and examining their use of social media and has been specifically tailored to have a focus on knife and hate crime.
A total of £308,000 funding has been allocated to the programme over three years - allowing charity Life Skills Education, which runs the scheme, to offer it to all schools.
It starts this month, with the police hoping all local schools will sign up for the programme.
Claremont Primary and Nursery School in Carrington, is one of the first schools to receive the new programme.
Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: "The programme will address the aim of the Nottinghamshire Knife Crime Strategy to work even more closely with schools to ensure knife crime is addressed appropriately and reduce the likelihood of young people offending.
"We believe that if young people are given the skills to understand knife crime - the causes, the triggers and the impacts – they can think ahead in a safe, classroom environment about how they might act to avoid getting into dangerous situations.
"It means if they are ever presented with such a situation in real life they don’t jump in without thinking because they already know how to react.
"Skills like this could be extremely valuable in preventing knife crime and reducing incidents in the long-term."
The DARE programme has a 25-year history of delivering drug and alcohol awareness in schools across Nottinghamshire.
Peter Moyes, chief executive officer at Life Skills Education, said: "Through social and emotional learning experiences young people during 10 one-hour sessions gain confidence in recognising and dealing with risky behaviours.
"They learn and practice strategies to help them make better decisions which reduces their risk. They also learn about who to go to for help and how to better communicate with those who may be applying pressure to them to participate in risky behaviours.
"We specifically cover bullying, peer pressure and the use of the internet increasing their resilience to being victims or offenders of online abuse in its widest possible sense including online hate crime.
"Our all-new programme will include the knife crime elements, hate crime and they will blend with the drugs and alcohol themes traditionally found in our programmes.
"The programme as a whole will build resilience to crime in the young people who graduate, help them find the right support if they do fall victim to crime and impact on the local communities through a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour."
Knife crime is a major priority for Nottinghamshire Police, after the number of knife-related offences rose by nine percent in the space of a year.
The highest spike is in the number of assaults causing injury, which rose from 383 to 436 offences, year ending March 2019.
Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping has funded the new primary school programme.
He said: "This will boost the work already under way to discourage young people from getting involved in a life of violence and crime.
"The earlier we can help children to use their energies in a positive way rather than violence and offending the more successful the results will be.
"That’s why I’m pleased to support this programme which will help those aged 10-11 understand the consequences of different types of crime on themselves and those around them."
Rob Campbell, head teacher at Claremont Primary and Nursery School, said: "At Claremont we are fully committed to providing our children with the relevant knowledge, skills and understanding to help them to navigate an increasingly complicated world.
“We believe that education is a vital tool in helping people understand one another and make positive contributions to our society."
