Over 300 “bleed control” kits are being distributed to pubs and bars across the City of London after knife crimes in the city centre grew by 43% this year.
The “bleed control” kits are being handed out by the City of London Police to 320 venues across the 1.12 square mile historic centre of the city. They are following in the footsteps of Birmingham, who handed out over 50 kits in June this year, after a successful campaign by Lynne Baird, whose son Daniel was stabbed to death at the age of just 26 near the city in 2017.
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Baird was “delighted” by the expansion of the scheme into the heart of the capital, but “doesn’t want it to stop here.” “I hope that this launch today will spark more forces to join our campaign and help make these kits available up and down the country,” she said.
She believes that the “bleed control” kits could very well have saved Daniel’s life the night he was attacked by Carlton Donaldson, 24. The kits contain tourniquets, trauma bandages, adhesive chest seals and foil blankets, and can help treat both knife and gunshot wounds. Bar staff will be trained in their use, so that victims of violent crime will not bleed out before an ambulance can reach them.
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David Lawes, Chief Superintendent of the City of London Police, told Sky News that the decision was a “no brainer,” with the rising levels of knife crime, “To do nothing would be the travesty,” he said. “This is a really, really simply piece of kit which can make a big difference. Particularly with the most catastrophic bleeds, if you don’t get help in the first few minutes the person will almost certainly die.”
Assistant Commissioner Alistair Sutherland, added that they were “proud” to eat the £25,000 cost of distributing the bleed control kits:
The City of London Police is proud to launch this initiative, in partnership with the Daniel Baird Foundation, as part of Lynne’s passionate campaign in memory of her son. These kits will help us achieve our aim of making the City as safe as possible for the people who live, work and visit the Square Mile. Daniel’s death was a tragedy that no parent should ever have to suffer. The initiative we’re launching with Lynne’s foundation today, will help Daniel’s memory go on in the lives that will be saved.
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The implementation comes as figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that in the City of London, knife crime climbed by 43%, with 57 incidents occurring in 2018/19. From June 2018 to June 2019, England saw a record high of 43,000 knife crimes across the country, and hospital admissions for those injured by a knife in an assault has increased by a third since 2013.
