Especially in this period, when in UK the youth knife crime is on the spotlight, there is a SMS service being trialled in schools in East London to prevent it. This service enables youngsters to anonymously report classmates or other youths they suspect of carrying knives to anti-crime charity Crimestoppers UK.

Posters urge youths to text details of potential offenders, such as their name, nickname, school and year.

The charity said the pilot is small-scale as it wants to determine whether misuse of the system is likely to be a problem – for instance, by kids attempting to get innocent classmates into trouble – although it stressed that to-date there have been no problems reported. It will also conduct a review of the scheme once the pilot concludes.

Text messages sent to the Crimestoppers UK number are encrypted and routed through a secure server so informants’ details remain anonymous, according to the companies.