The simple change to knives Sheffield campaigner Big Ant says will save lives in new study
A one-of-a-kind study by a leading knife crime campaigner hopes to save lives by asking “what’s the point” of treating knives like a forbidden topic for children.
The project by Always An Alternative, titled ‘What’s The Point?’, looks at the impact of knife crime in supported living for young people aged-16-24, where kitchen knives are often locked away.
Sheffield’s Anthony ‘Big Ant’ Olaseinde worked with 13 children’s homes across South Yorkshire to change the conversation over knives in the UK.
By swapping all knives in the homes for safety knives with no sharpened point and putting them back in drawers, the project sought to stop treating blades as weapons that must be kept out of sight, but ordinary kitchen tools that young adults can be trusted with.
Ant told The Star: “To answer the million-dollar question of ‘What’s the Point?,’ the project shows there is no point in having a point on kitchen knives.
“What do any of us use the point on kitchen knives for? Opening packaging, and that’s about it. You can do the job with scissors, or normal cutlery.”
In a survey of the young people in study, two-out-of-three said they either carry a knife or knew someone that does, and one-in-three said they have been directly affected by knife crime.
But nine-out-of-10 also said they felt there was little to no chance someone would take and use a standard kitchen knife as a weapon if there was no sharpened point.
Comments from the children in the study included one who said they appreciated feeling more trusted by staff when the knives had ‘no point’: “I love the knives in the workplace. I even feel safer using them which is big because I always had to have eyes watching me.”
Another said: “The knifes are actually really good they make me feel really safe in the house because I get scared when my house mates leave them laying around for anyone to get.”
The project hopes the pilot study can be rolled out to children’s homes and foster carers nationwide, and have pointed knives replaced with safety knives everywhere.
Ant said: “Knives are treated like dreaded items, but they’re just tools.
“The more we treat them as forbidden and dangerous on their own, the more they become fascinating for vulnerable young people, who already often carry more trauma or have experienced violence and don’t understand their emotions.
“By taking the point away and returning them to kitchens in plain sight, it’s no longer stigmatised.
“I think the project has been really positive and it’s looking at tackling knife crime in a positive light.”
Big Ant is one of the leading campaigners against knife crime in South Yorkshire. Through his charity, Always An Alternative, Anthony has led projects speaking to children in schools, establishing weapon amnesty bins and calling for Government action.