WTF is happening in London?!

[AngeloMysterioso]

In the last few days alone, there’s been a stabbing outside Liverpool St station, two moped muggers punched a women to the ground for her handbag and phone, and Michael McIntyre was forced out of his car and had his watch taken off him by another pair who smashed his window in whilst his child was in the back!

Even where I live in a pretty boring zone 4 suburb two teenage boys were stabbed a few streets away last week.

I know it’s never been the safest of cities but it feels like it’s got so much worse in the last year or so. What the hell is happening?

Surely police cuts can't be the whole answer? That's like saying that the only reason there isn't full scale violence everywhere every day is because of the risk of getting caught.

Surely there is something else going on that makes people angry/vengeful so that they end up hurting people? Police are only part of the solution to a peaceful society.

Police cuts!!

Also I have/have had friends in the Met & historically there was waste particularly in regards to overtime so some cuts were probably necessary but now it’s gone the other way.

Violent, impulsive and little thought for consequences - typical of teenagers

I can assure you it is not typical of teenagers.

I think violent crime is on the increase owing to police cuts.

I don't live in London any longer but the stories you hear around here it is like I still am! Knives and stabbings and god knows one seem to go on everywhere sadly ....

Violent, impulsive and little thought for consequences - typical of teenagers

What all of them?

Violent, impulsive and little thought for consequences - typical of teenagers. - No, it's not. If it was then the problem would be far wider spread than it currently is and more teens would be like that. I live in one of the safest towns in the UK and I can assure you that we have plenty of teenagers here too.

It's mainly teenage males, why are some posters painting it as all teenagers?

I know someone who, whilst living in London 15-20 years ago woke up to hear someone breaking into his house using a crowbar. He called the police but knew they wouldn't make it in time.

My friend had to pretend he was insane behind the door making crazy noises. The guy ran off. The police visited 2 days later ready to take an inventory of lost property.

My friend could have been seriously injured or killed. He was very shaken up by it. I don't recommend using the same tactic. My point is, this is nothing new. It's making the news now in a way it didn't when we lived in London.

MarklesMerkin exactly.

I live in a town with plenty teenagers- and almost zero violent crime.

Austerity = society breakdown.

Police numbers have been cut to the bone. You can go for days without seeing a policeman. They warned this would happen. Westminster is probably the only borough with adequate police numbers left. Everybody including the criminals know this.

On top of this YouTube is being used as a revenge tool winding hard of thinking teenagers up.

I don't think I am an expert or have all the answers but the other day my partner and I were watching police interceptors and the whole attitude of some elements of society toward the police has changed.
Even as a teacher in a pretty middle class school we have had training in radicalism and gang culture. Gangs were driving down from the capital and using very young children to carry drugs and sell them.
Lack of respect is widespread amongst professions where it used to be instilled by parents eg teachers and police.... everything is challenged.
Criminality has always been there it's just with social media and such like it's very present and 'attractive' I honestly think it's a combination of things- not any one issue that's led to the situation we have now.
I hate it when my sons go out in the evening though :( stabbing a are prevalent in my area at the moment.

'It's mainly teenage males, why are some posters painting it as all teenagers?'

Perhaps they saw the piece on the local news yesterday about girls, gangs and crime, and the importance of not overlooking that aspect. So that piece of advocacy may well still be fresh in Londoners' minds

Police cuts.
Austerity.
Less mental health support for the teens and their parents, due to cuts yet again.

My town 30 miles out of London is also suffering from teenage anti social behaviour.

It has most definitely increased over the last 2 years.

I believe it's a multitude of social issues plus use of unregulated internet sites.

Having no police doesn't help but it's not the root cause.

Lots of reasons - but many of those coming down to austerity.

One thing that concerns me is that most of the rise has occurred after the Mayor's major new initiative (following summit autumn 2016, so a fair amount of time for it to have taken effect)

Violent crime is usually worse in hot weather, so things may get worse before they get better.

No fear of consequence because there are none. The moped little shits know that no police are going to go after them because if they came off the bikes the police would be to blame.

I think the mayor has a lot to answer for; he is in control of the Met and their powers and budgets

Don’t believe the hype ! I am
London all my long life
Sincerely Ge only
Major shocking events have been the terrorism

Just more reporting

Cuts must be a contributing factor. Not just police cuts, although it’s the first time I can remember such wholesale admissions by the police that they won’t pursue certain crimes because of lack of resources. I find that unhelpful to say the least.

But also the cuts cover the social side: social workers, support staff, 1000 Surestart centres have closed since 2010, youth clubs are shutting, it’s almost impossible to get a referral to Cahms (child and adolescent mental health services), Counselling services for young people like Connexions have been withdrawn, funding for charitable youth services has also been cut. It’s such a shame because it’s hard to reinstate these services once they’re cut: people move on, buildings get turned into housing projects etc. If these services turn round even a minority of families’ lives it makes a difference.

I also agree that the cost of housing makes a difference.

The emphasis of almost all education into academic qualifications with so much less emphasis on the practical (Michael Gove I’m looking at you). How is someone who is not academic going to have a hope of getting decent qualifications. I’m not practical, so if I had to spend all day doing technical drawing, d & t, art and textile design - which is the equivalent - (yes I’m jealous of anyone who can btw), I’d feel pretty inadequate too. So much money has gone into the vanity project of free schools and making schools academies. But what about just providing decent support to schools - but that’s old fashioned and boring for any Education/young people Minister. They all want to ‘effect change’ and ‘make their mark’. Leaving a generation of disaffected young people in their experimental wake.

We have bike gangs here in Brum. They're a bloody nuisance, they obviously don't work, where do they get the money from for bikes and petrol??

The policing around here is dreadful too. This lovely area I grew up in, is vile now, unrecognisable.

I live in a borough that has suffered many fatal stabbings and shootings in the last few years.

I also remember the day that funding was pulled for EVERY youth club in the borough. I had conversations with several people at the time along the lines of 'when the gang issue becomes unmanageable will they think again?'
Trouble is the cuts have been so severe, so unprecedented, there is no infrastructure left to pick up where they left off.
Not only were LA run schemes 'deleted', funding for charities was withdrawn so long standing and successful NGOs went under.
Look at how many small charities have disappeared in the last decade and how many larger ones have changed their services.

What makes it even worse is that my borough has undergone a cosmetic transformation in the same period. New road layouts, flower baskets all over the place, new art work, LA funded food markets, dozens of massive free festivals and general poncing up of the place.

The affluent were delighted at finding themselves living in a place where their needs and wishes were paramount.

Maybe now the crime is coming close to touching their families instead of staying out of their way they might begin to realise what a monumental cock up all this austerity has been.

Male violence?

Also - surely if you witness an assault actually happening, that’s precisely the time to call 999 and not 101?

I think that’s a good point above re gentrification. I think people move to areas & don’t necessarily realise there are pockets of deprivation around the corner. People walk about with their mobiles out all the time & Im gobsmacked by the amount of people i’ve seen leave a imac unattended at a coffee table. I’ve seen kids on mopeds swipe a phone out of a persons hand, honestly it happens so fast that by the time you’ve realised whats happened the bike is long gone.