The Crucial Crew initiative

The Crucial Crew initiative was launched nationally in 1991 by Crime Concern following some lengthy case studies that took place throughout the UK.

The idea was to enable children experience and participate in a range of realistic situations which were life threatening, or which simulated crimes taking place which were preventable.

The scheme was, and still is, based on the view that: -

• Children learn by doing
• Crime Prevention and personal safety can be challenging and exciting
• Everyone is concerned about crime prevention and personal safety
• The most effective way of tackling these issues is via a partnership approach.

The aims & objectives of the scheme are: -

• Learning social responsibility
• How to deal with potentially dangerous situations
• Make a contribution towards crime prevention in the community
• Understand the role of the emergency services

The Scheme

The scheme consists of real-life role plays (known as scenarios), which are arranged, in the form of a course.

It all takes place within a self-contained site large enough to accommodate all the scenarios.

Children aged between 10 & 11 years complete the course in small groups and are assessed on their responses to the tasks and problems presented to them on each set.

The scheme is then evaluated sometime after the children have attended and the participating schools and organisers advised of the results.