Young people in Bedfordshire are being urged to become fearless in the fight against crime following the launch of a new service for the county.
Fearless.org was launched nationally in April 2010 and is a website by the independent charity Crimestoppers where young people can get information about crimes that affect them. It also gives them the opportunity to pass on information about crime 100% anonymously. In April this year a new mobile website for Fearless was launched allowing young people to give information about crime whilst on the move. It is now being officially launched in Bedfordshire.
An event is being held to launch Fearless.org at The Thomas Moore School in Bedford at the start of May. The event will include an interactive theatre performance called Skin Deep and workshops by The Solomon Theatre. There will also be a session by Fearless youth workers.
Ann Scott, Eastern Regional Manager for Crimestoppers, explained why Fearless.org is so important: “Young people are one of the most important audiences for Crimestoppers to communicate with, but they haven’t always understood or been willing to interact with the charity. One of the key reasons for re-launching Crimestoppers for young people is to empower them to be ‘fearless’ in passing on information about crime anonymously if they feel unable to talk to Police”.
She continued: “We want to reassure young people that information they give to Fearless.org about crime is taken seriously and that they have nothing to fear by contacting the charity. When someone contacts us we do not ask for their name or take any personal details. We do not trace calls/IP addresses and we do not record our calls. Those who give information do not have to give a statement to Police or go to court. In the 24 years that Crimestoppers has been running we have never revealed anyone’s identity”.
Crimestoppers plays a major part in the fight against crime. It has received over 1.3 million calls to date and every day 23 people are arrested as a result of information given to Crimestoppers.
Richard Denton, Children and Young People Development Officer and Schools Co-ordinator for Bedfordshire Police, comments, “While Bedfordshire Police works very closely with local young people in schools and other youth settings we understand that some often don’t feel comfortable telling the Police, their parents or school about crime they might be seeing. Gaining information from them from Fearless.org will enable us and our partners to better understand and therefore better respond to the issues that young people face”.
The website is at: www.fearless.org and the brand new Fearless film can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/user/FearlessORG#p/u/0/Nbnbwb0WVTI
There is also a brand new app at http://www.rufearless.org/ where young people can experience ‘losing their virtual life’ if they log onto Facebook.
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