I am extremely excited to announce that I have been shortlisted for a Churchill Fellowship. The prestigious opportunity, created and organised by The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, aims to empower individuals to learn from the world and transform lives across the UK. The Fellowship was created in 1965 as the living legacy of Sir Winston Churchill and to date has given out over 5,500 grants. The aim of this blog has always been to not just journal my findings, but to use it as a springboard to real change. I never realistically envisioned that I could be the one to lead this change.

If awarded the fellowship, I aim to find new, practical approaches to tackling knife crime in the UK. I aim to achieve this by speaking with law enforcement, social agencies and crime-prevention organisations in areas of the world that have been most impacted by knife crime. By carrying out this research, I hope to bring back the most innovative, out-of-the-box solutions which if implemented in the UK, could make a significant impact on the growing problem.

The primary aim of the approaches I propose is to reduce the number of crimes committed in the UK that involve knives. UK knife-crime is one of the biggest issues faced by the country, with 43,516 knife crime offences in the 12 months ending March 2019. This figure represents an 80% increase from 5 years ago and is the highest number ever recorded. I plan to approach the research in a flexible manner and am open to proposing solutions which range from at-the-source, long term solutions to more immediate, law-enforcement-focused.

 

How I propose to achieve this

 

Building a solution

Through my knowledge as a tech founder and developer, as well as my qualifications as a First Class Computer Science graduate, I am ideally placed to build a necessary solution if the technology I investigate has significant inadequacies

 

Lobbying UK law enforcement, social agencies and government

For proposed solutions which require a significant change in strategy by entities with the potential for impact, I aim to build on the connections I already have within the three key sectors to lobby for meaningful change based on the well-formulated, data-driven solutions I aim to present.

 

Spreading awareness of ways to tackle knife-crime

Through my blog and giving further talks across the UK, I plan to spread the results of my findings.

 

Proposed meeting schedule

 

Peru

Moisés Salazar, Reach Founder (LinkedIn connection) – “the Waze” of preventing street crime

Luis Miguel Gonzales Rosell, NGO DeportVida Director (contact via NDV) – youth sports against gang violence

Elohim Monard, Technical Advisor (LinkedIn connection) – “Safe Neighborhood” pilot program

 

Chile

Nelson Baloian, predictive crime researcher (LinkedIn connection) – led paper into the implementation of predictive crime within Chile

Dr. Macarena Rau, CPTED Chile Director (yet to reach out) – crime prevention through environmental design

Jaime Ansieta, Policía De Investigaciones officer (LinkedIn connection) – Microtrafficking Zero (MT0) plan

 

Argentina

Martin Ocampo, former Minister of Security and Justice (yet to reach out) – led efforts to reduce crime through technology

Aníbal Falivene, Operational Security Lead in Buenos Aires (LinkedIn connection) – real-time crime mapping

Martín Gasulla, Deputy Security Secretary of Vicente López (LinkedIn connection) – enhanced surveillance technology

 

Brazil

Valdeci Ferreira, FBAC Executive Director (contact via FBAC)

Fernando Grella Vieira, former secretary of public security, São Paulo (LinkedIn connection) – Detecta crime-monitoring system

Marcelo Marchesini da Costa (LinkedIn connection) – carried out a spatial analysis of homicide across Brazil’s municipalities