HYS INSTALLS ADDED SECURITY AT ITS VENUES (21/03/22) In a bid to help create a safer environment for young people and staff, Hailsham Youth Service has installed a new security system - a 360 Search Pole - for use at youth events and its venues including the Square Youth Cafe, Hellingly Youth Hub and Monday Youth Hub. The new 'Search Pole', which includes two wands and can be used at Hailsham Youth Service's various venue locations, is a high-tech, discrete and non-intrusive solution to assist with the identification of individuals carrying what could potentially be weapons. Knife crime in particular is a growing concern countrywide and in the year ending March 2021, there were around 41,000 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales. Whilst the police take a robust approach to anyone found to be illegally in possession of a bladed article or other weapon in public, without detection it is very difficult to identify these people and Hailsham Youth Service now has the ability to detect concealed weapons and can go some way in terms of helping to prevent such offences from happening in the first place.

Tom Lacey of My Group Solutions, the company which provided the weapon detection technology said: "Since our original introduction and demonstration with Hailsham Youth Service, we have been extremely impressed with what Andy and the team are doing by creating this safe space, and extremely honoured to be asked to be part of this." Andy Joyes, Youth Service Manager at Hailsham Town Council commented: "Any youth worker will tell you that they strive to carry out activity and monitoring of young people attending centres in a safe environment for everyone concerned. I’m sure the young people attending our venues will appreciate the benefits of the search pole in continuing to ensure that we maintain safe places for young people. "Similar weapon detection equipment is already being used by an increasing number of other youth centres across the country, and the installation of such technology for use at Hailsham Youth Service's centres is welcomed and should help young people to become more aware of knife crime." "Of course, we want as many young people as possible to understand that carrying a knife or other weapon is a serious matter. Our youth clubs and centres are very popular with local young people and we're delighted to be able to benefit from having the new security system in place."