00:00The consequences of violence doesn't always end when a case reaches the courts.
00:05Four years after three people were killed in a series of shootings across Merseyside,
00:09bereaved relatives are backing a new educational resource
00:13intended to help prevent further loss of young lives.
00:16As we mark the fourth anniversary in August of the murders of Sam, Ashley and Olivia
00:23and then later on this year in December for Ellie,
00:27it's a poignant moment really to remember the victims whose lives were taken far too early.
00:34The murders of Sam Rimmer, Ashley Dale, Olivia Pratt-Corbell and Ellie Edwards
00:39led Merseyside Police to receive funding from the Home Office
00:42to begin a clear hold build operation known locally as Evolve.
00:47The approach brings together organisations to tackle serious organised crime
00:51while creating safer neighbourhoods through a coordinated response
00:54involving different services and organisations.
00:57We're part of a group now called SAVE as well, which was organised by Joanne and Damien
01:03and we all go and I call it the sad group, but it's not sad because we have a laugh,
01:09don't we?
01:09Which sounds mad. People go, how can you laugh?
01:11But we do because we get each other, we get it, we get what each other are going through
01:15and we just go and just talk about general day-to-day and stuff
01:19and yeah, we just, we help each other loads, don't we, is it?
01:22Yeah.
01:22Yes, things have changed over the last four years.
01:26The work of Evolve through the wider partnership has achieved some fantastic results
01:31in relation to significant numbers of arrests,
01:34money that we've stripped out from organised crime groups,
01:38there's nearly 200 weapons that have been taken off the streets,
01:42the money that we've seized from criminal assets have been reinvested into communities
01:48and that totals somewhere near £1.6 million of investments
01:52that have been taken from organised crime groups
01:56and I hope that communities will have felt the impact around that,
01:59around the work of Operation Evolve.
02:02It massively helped us as a family to get our criminal justice
02:07because you can move, that's a door that you can close
02:10and you can start and move away from that.
02:13So, you know, it is very, very important to speak up.
02:16But I understand why people don't.
02:18I, you know, I get it, people are scared,
02:19but if you're in our situation, just put yourself in our shoes
02:23and think about what it would do to you or your family.
02:27Yeah, when you were saying about the preparation for August,
02:31for mine is appeals and obviously wanting somebody to come forward
02:34and give us some closure for Sam.
02:37And now, speaking to these, it doesn't make that much of a difference
02:41because your child's still dead at the end of the day,
02:43but it's one's all closed, as Gina just said.
02:46Four years on, the focus of Evolve is on what can be done collectively
02:50to make neighbourhoods safer, bringing public services,
02:53schools and community partners together alongside policing
02:56to tackle serious organised crime.
Comments