Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Knife crime: Theresa May ‘not listening’ says ex-police chief

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Prime Minister Theresa May has not listened to police concerns about knife crime, a former head of the Metropolitan Police has said.

Mrs May said the deaths of young people were “appalling” as she announced an upcoming summit on knife crime.

But Lord Stevens told the BBC: “I don’t think she listens, quite frankly, to what she’s being told.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May was not doing enough to tackle the root causes of knife crime.

Senior party members, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and shadow policing minister Louise Haigh, have written to the PM calling for 10,000 new police officers to help tackle youth violence.

On Wednesday afternoon a man, believed to be in his mid-20s, was fatally stabbed in Leyton, east London, police said.

The Met said it had launched a murder investigation and no arrests had been made.

Earlier, Home Secretary Sajid Javid called for knife crime to be treated “like a disease”, and said “we have to listen to them [police] when they talk about resources”.

The most awful political truth about the flare in knife crime is that it is so familiar.

From time to time, a flurry of terrible attacks emerges, the public is alarmed and politicians debate what can be done.

Frankly then, many of the solutions that are often put forward are familiar too. And for a time, genuinely trying to focus on this kind of violence is a prominent political priority.

But also familiar is the narrative where that focus then fades over time and the political grip is loosened. What’s difficult for politicians grappling with it this time round is not just that the real solutions might take a long time to pursue and make real – that’s a familiar truth.

Source: (BBC News)

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