Knife Crime

 28th September 2023

Knife crime is rampant in the UK.

It’s out of control.

It has been for years.

And it’s getting worse.

Yesterday, saw the latest needless and devastating death by knife, on the streets of Croydon.

A 15 year old girl, on her way to school, stabbed to death by a 17 year old male, who is now in custody. Witnesses described a large ‘sword like’ knife or a machete.

A MACHETE !!!

Why the hell is a 17 year old male, carrying a machete ?

There can only be 2 reasons. Defence or Attack.

SORRY, THAT’S WRONG, THERE ARE NO REASONS.

Only excuses.

And this is not just a ‘London problem’.

It’s in the villages, town and city’s right across the UK.

It’s in the streets near you.

It may have already come to your street.

If it hasn’t yet, IT WILL.

Unless we turn the tide, unless we tilt the balance.

NOW.

So what do we do ?

Let’s consider :

• DETERRENTS :
• POLICE : Criminals feel confident to commit crime because they feel there is little or no chance of them ‘running into’ a police officer in advance of or during the criminal act. This is not just knife crime, it’s mugging, burglary, assaults including sexual assaults, guns crime and other types of crime including murder. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND GET MASSIVELY MORE POLICE NUMBERS ON THE STREETS, RETURN TO COMMUNITY POLICING, TO A POINT WHERE PEOPLE ALMOST ALWAYS SEE A POLICE OFFICER WHEN THEY ARE OUT AND ABOUT, RATHER THAN ALMOST NEVER.
• STOP & SEARCH : Stop & Search has been a hot potato over the years. I believe that it has not always been used fairly and effectively. We must put aside cultural concerns, demographics, concerns of bias etc Getting knives, guns or other weapons off the street saves lives. Simple. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND GET TO THE POINT WHERE PEOPLE OUT AND ABOUT EXPECT TO BE STOPPED AND SEARCHED. IN FACT WAY PAST THAT, WHERE PEOPLE WELCOME IT. WE MUST IMPLEMENT MASS STOP AND SEARCH. IT WILL GET WEAPONS AND CRIMINALS OFF THE STREET.
• ZERO TOLERANCE : Too many crimes are not investigated, or not investigated fully and to a conclusion. Probably because of lack of resource, changing priorities and flavour of the week policing. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND INVESTIGATE EVERY CRIME , WHETHER SO CALLED LOW LEVEL OR HIGH LEVEL, TO A CONCLUSION. AND WHERE EVIDENCE SUPPORTS LIKELIHOOD OF PROSECUTION, THAT MUST BE PURSUED. FOR EVERY SINGLE CRIME !.
• ONE STRIKE : These crimes are serious, and often result in life changing physical and mental injury, and death.They must always be treated that way. It’s clear that a large number of crimes are committed by a small number of people. Even IF they are detected they are often not prosecuted. When they are, they are not learning a lesson, they do not change their ways. They do not fear the judicial system. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND IMPLEMENT A ONE STRIKE AND YOU ARE OUT APPROACH. PROSECUTE FIRST CRIMES, PROSECUTE SUBSEQUENT CRIMES. TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.
• SENTENCING : Criminals no longer fear the law, they don’t fear being caught, they don’t fear prison. They don’t fear their sentences. We have become too liberal, too lenient. It time to change that. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND BRING BACK FEAR. WE MUST INCREASE SENTENCES FOR CARRYING WEAPONS (GUNS, KNIVES etc), INTIMIDATION WITH WEAPONS, AND USE OF WEAPONS.  THE EXACT LENGTH OF SENTENCES CAN BE DISCUSSED, BUT WE COULD AGREE AND IMPLEMENT A STRONGER APPROACH. MAYBE 25 YEARS WITHOUT PAROLE FOR CARRYING A WEAPON, LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR KILLING.

• SUPPLY OF WEAPONS : We can never STOP the availability &  supply of weapons, And bad people that want weapons will always be able to get them. But, we must try harder to stop their availability. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND IMPLEMENT THE LAWS AND POLICING NEEDED TO REDUCE AVAILABILITY OF WEAPONS. STOPPING IN PERSON PURCHASE, IMPORTS, ON LINE PURCHASING, AND BANNING SPECIFIC AND MORE GENERAL WEAPONS.
• UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSES : It’s difficult to solve problems without fully understanding the causes. In trying to understand the cause of these crimes and attitudes, EVERYTHING must be discussed, everything must be on the table. Without making any judgement here, we must consider at least Policing priorities, Policing numbers, the Judicial System, Prisons (Yes, lets build more prisons if we need them), gangs, drugs, alcohol, supply of weapons, lack of respect for the law,  parental responsibility, absent dads, family breakdowns, strong male role models, community support, social services, stop & search, lack of discipline, Social Media, the list goes on. WE MUST TILT THE BALANCE BACK IN FAVOUR OF LAW AND ORDER AND DO THE HARD YARDS TO UNDERSTAND THE CAUSES, TO THEN DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT THE SOLUTIONS  WE NEED TO STOP THESE CRIMES.

With the most recent case being in London, the London Mayor would do well to clear his desk, stop talking about ULEZ, HS2 and other PR opportunities and start dealing with this in HIS city. TODAY.

TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO ACT !!!

TIME FOR THE PUBLIC TO DEMAND ACTION !!!

What do YOU think we should do ?

Thanks for reading.

Graham

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