Violent Crime in London

[KittyPerry77]

AIBU to think the increase in violent crime in London is just not on and Sadiq Khan should resign?

Some people really do have it in for Khan, don't they.

He isn't responsible for gang culture.

Not sure if any of his policies have actually caused it though have they?

Crime statistics are too complicated for me to pretend to understand. Eg sex crimes going up is a good thing as it’s generally an under-reported area and also old crimes reported now.

is violent crime in London much higher than normal? I thought the London vs New York headline was just a catchy headline and was more a result of a drop of crime in NY rather than a significant increase in London?

Not saying it’s not a problem but has the rate really changed substantially overnight as a direct result of something Khan has done?

The people who should resign are the ones who have cut every possible helping service and reduced people’s life chances.
These cuts hurt everyone ultimately.

I'm sure some people do have it in for him - goes with the territory of being a public figure. I don't have it in for him - just want to have a competent Mayor.

Has anyone ever even intimated that he is responsible for gang culture? He is responsible for London though and violent crime has risen significantly under his watch. The buck stops with him and he is showing himself not to be up to the task.

He's not responsible for austerity, which always produces a rise in violent crime.

He reduced stop and search howthelightgetsin. Of course he is backtracking on it now! Yes, violent crime stats are up.
I agree cuts across social services and policing are dreadful FarFrom but think that is just an easy out from Khan. Met police tweeted how they have 900 specialist officers on hate crimes and he has upped his marketing budget. Noone said it was going to be easy to be a Labour Mayor with a Tory govt. Him blaming the tories is just as pathetic as the whinging the tories do. The Mayor needs to manage his money.

It’s not just about policing and it’s not about the mayor managing money!
The cuts to housing, education, social care, mental health, youth services etc lead to long term problems including crime and violence. There is no sticking plaster for this almighty personal and social wound that the Tories are deepening.

The increase in violent crime is part of a longer term trend that far predates Sadiq Khan. Scapegoating him is childish and pointless.

Not even the police think stop and search is effective.

It just alienates people.

i dont think you can blame Sadiq Khan for something that started with the abolition of ILEA and swingeing cuts to youth services and policing, can you?
Even if he is a bit brown.

Yes let's get nice white Bojo back eh.

oh yes i am sure he was much much better...
hmm hmm jellyfish..submarines..hmm hmmm

But stop and search is a hard one. For years people hated it and said it needed to be used less. Now everyone is saying it’s the answer again.

If you look at the success New York has had, a lot of it goes back to the early 90s and centres on housing policy rather than policing. In short, you don’t get the neighbourhood effect gang culture when you spread out those living in poverty rather than concentrating them in ‘ghettos’. People living below the poverty line in NYC these days are equally distributed between all 5 boroughs. Chicago basically has the exact opposite set up, where most professionals never step foot south of the Loop (downtown) and it’s the murder capital of the US. So no, I don’t think anyone should be blaming Sadiq, perhaps the last 20 years of housing policy in London would be a better place to start. I agree he could and should be doing more though, although easier said than done.

YANBU

Ending stop and search was a massive mistake but panders to the right on regardless of the young men who die as a result

So according to FarFrom, it's due to Tory cuts, and according to bryheresse it's a longer term trend (which I don't think it is actually - see attached). There can be various theories as to why London is in this predicament, but the fact remains that the person in charge is the Mayor and therefore it is on him to sort things out. If he is not capable of this for whatever reason then he needs to go.

Kitty dear, problems dont just start over a 12 or 24 month period. What is happening now is the result of years and years of policy in housing, education, youth services and so on.
I dont believe Sadiq Khan has a magic wand , do you?

looking at gang culture in London and how the peaks and troughs occur, I can't see how the Mayor can be held accountable. Who would you ask to resign if we were back in the days of not having a Mayor? There were peaks and troughs of activity then as well.

How is it Khan's fault?

Crime in London has always been an issue which is one of the reasons I moved from there.

A family member was murdered there back in 2009, gang culture was rife even then.. Khan has inherited years of issues, this problem existed long before he was mayor.. Unfortunately it's not something that only he can change.

How can the Mayor be expected to sort things out if they are a result of austerity? Can he end austerity? Is that in his gift?

Years and years of such policies may indeed have created the impetus in these youngsters to turn to violent crime DullandOld. The Mayor cannot change that. It is up to him, however to prevent them committing violent crimes and catching them when they do.

" It is up to him, however to prevent them committing violent crimes and catching them when they do. "

right OK then , you sound rational.

It would be interesting to debate a really complex issue like this, one that probably has many, many causes and also sadly isn’t going to ever go away, just maybe fall slightly.. but just blaming Khan is as stupid as just blaming the government.
The social media angle is interesting. Again, I have no idea how major a cause that is, but the fact that we can all watch these threats online is quite horrifying.

Acid attacks is one actually that does seem to have (relatively) appeared out of nowhere.

howthelight- I agree you cannot simply blame the government but their attack on all helping services does have a direct impact on mental and social health and cohesion -and not just for this generation.

I don't think the Mayor of London can have a "can't win, don't try" attitude to crime in London Yidette86. Just like a CEO, it's his fault because he's the person in charge.

What he can do corythatwas is have a zero tolerance beefed-up policing service.