Bleed kits put in shops and pubs ready to help stabbing victims
West Midlands Police has rolled out bleed control kits across the region in a bid to combat the deadly scourge of knife crime.
The 400 kits will be stationed in shops, pubs and public buildings around the region, and will contain equipment including bandages and dressings to stem the flow of blood when people have been stabbed.
The force is the first in the country to roll out the kits, which West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson says can save lives.
It comes as the region remains in the midst of a knife crime epidemic, with the force recording more than 3,000 offences involving a knife over the last year.
A total of 50 of those incidents resulted in a death. They include Yasir Hussain, who was knifed to death in Dudley last December, and Dale Grice, who died after being stabbed in Birmingham.
Mr Jamieson said: “If the roll out of these kits can help just one person, they will have proved a resounding success.”
The roll out will cost £38,000 and was signed off at a meeting yesterday.
The first kits in the Black Country, which have been funded by the PCC’s office and will be distributed through community safety partnerships, were launched last month at the McDonald’s on Kent Street in Upper Gornal.
A campaign for their introduction was started by Lynne Baird after her son Daniel was stabbed to death outside The Forge Tavern, Digbeth, following a night out with friends in July 2017.
There was no first aid or bleeding control kit available at the scene, and the 26-year-old died while being driven to hospital.
The Daniel Baird Foundation was then set up and the bleed control kits have since been used in a number of shops, businesses, pubs and clubs in Birmingham.
Politicians including Birmingham MP Jess Phillips have written to Home Secretary Priti Patel demanding bleed kits are stationed in all major public places across the country.
The letter says: "We believe that having publicly accessible bleeding control packs in all major shopping centres, pubs and clubs, public transport stations, and all public buildings should be a priority given the current levels of serious and violent crime.
"In short, we wish bleed control packs to be as readily available as , for example, defibrillators."
It asks for a commitment to ensuring that kits are "readily available" to match the government's pledge to tackle violent crime.
