Murders in London

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AIBU to think that if the police had back the powers to stop and search anyone ,and to arrest any persons with a knife ,our country would be a lot safer..
I know it's not quite as simple as that ,as we need more officers on the street to do so ,and more prisons to house people caught with a knife .giving them a lengthy Sentence as well.
But would it not be at least a start? And if it saved one person from dying it would be worth it..
Plus if you have nothing to hide, you won't mind the police stopping you ,as you will understand they are just doing their job..

I come from the stabby borough of London though!

ou do realise (a) they are happening all over the country, you just get London news as high profile

(b) as a middle aged, white woman, I don't fit the demographic of he obligatory drug dealer/gang/member/runner for county lines, I could walk though the shittiest of estates and not be stopped.

We've got a Section 35 in force at the mo, on the high street, expires tonight, had a section 60 back in January, for the whole borough. I'd like to think it's because I am that person who perpetually phones the police with descriptions and car number plates of all our local drug dealers etc hanging round outside McDs.

We don't actually get any knife crime a the moment - but our population demographic is changing, as is the cultural mix of the borough.

Of course we dare not voice what is causing it, who is behind it or everyone screams 'racist' but it is prevalent in certain groups, more so than others.

It’s such an impossible balance. Carry out their powers more extensively than they do and risk it being labelled profiling because the areas the trouble is coming from has minorities.

Don’t carry out their extensive powers due to the above and nothing changes, everyone carries on stabbing and being stabbed.

Yes, far more police would help but not if every time they try to proactively prevent crime they’re accused of totalitarianism and/or profiling.

Where I'm from, there is at least 2 stabbings a week in our borough. It's never on national news. I find out about it on our local FB page.

SAS is a reaction. It is not prevention. As others have said the issue is multi faceted. Getting to the causes of gang related knife crimes and helping these young men to break free is the only way to stop knife crimes

‘Profilng’ Has become a stick with which to beat the police with, when in actual fact it’s a very useful tool to focus on the people who commit these crimes. Obviously if 99% of the stabbings are committed by a specific community or race, then it’s absolutely right that random stop and search’s are carried out targeting these people.

I get the feeling these are targeted crimes, not random stabbings.

Since stop and search was abandoned,knife crime has rocketed...am I wrong?
If people knew it was 5 / 10 years inside for carrying,and police could stop and search for any reason .it would stop some people carrying.that in turn would stop some murders.
We have to start somewhere ,how many more people will die before the government start to make changes.

You got one thing right in your op. It's not that simple.

It's not just police services that have been cut. Other services help prevent knife crime too. Once the police are involved the state has already failed.

Also Re your point on being a mother. Some mothers fear how their child will fare at the hands of the police.

I fit a racial profile. I have been searched often intimately in almost every airport I have flown from. I have been followed by security guards around shops.

The police don't stop me as I am a woman and now older.

It's so easy to day profiling is s great thing when you don't fit one and it has zero impact on your life

It is not a race card please do not use that terminology

The real problem is systematic underfunding by the government. "soft" services like youth clubs, youth workers etc have been closed due to lack of funding. These services helped to keep young people engaged in things that weren't gangs.

Now there is a vacuum, youngsters have no money and nothing to do. If someone offers you money to deliver drugs, you'll probably do it. At 14 you can't see the other consequences. Odds are you won't be arrested because there are no police around. You only hit the headlines when you get stabbed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Profiling is logical. If certain groups are more likely to commit a certain crime then use that knowledge. It's not racist or sexist, just logical.

Maybe we should tackle why it happens.
Surely

I think most of them are targeted based on area they live/gang they hang about with - so Fred is stabbed, not because he’s Fred but because he lives in x estate.

The trouble with a lot of the soloutions people are coming up with here is that they take years to filter in & be effective - these kids are dying now (that’s not to say we shouldn’t look at long term soloutions but we also need a knee jerk answer)

These guys are members of gangs. That's why it's been tit for tat for the past 8 weeks approx.

Using the words race card are in effect racist. If you can't see that I can't help you

Oh and lovely to suggest I come back when my son is stabbed. Just fucking lovely

You have shown your true colours. Own them

Not just in London, it’s increasingly countrywide, like a virus, another young man in greater Manchester last night after 2 lost lives in Birmingham in the past 2 weeks. And of course Jodie in Essex, RIP.

our young man is about to broaden his horizons and go off to sixth form college in our nearest city in September, from the relatively shielded secondary school environment. At a time when we should be feeling nothing but excitement at the prospect of this next big step, his dad and are are increasingly concerned (we’re not communicating that to him, obviously). Our daughter is 25 now and knife crime just wasn’t a worry when she was at the same stage.
It seems to be spreading and I’ve no idea what the answer is. All we can do is prepare them as best we can with advice on how to keep safe and avoid trouble within their peer group, whilst trying not to terrify them. Though of course that doesn’t protect them from totally random attacks. Its horrific.

I’m going to stick my neck out a bit here & say there also needs to be better parenting. If your 14 year old is driving a moped patents should be asking where it came from, if they've got £150 trainers that mum didn’t buy where did they get them?

I'm not saying stop and search is the answer to all knife crime.im just saying ,it's a start ,a start in getting knives of the street .we all want the same thing..our kids home safe at night..less knives on the street ,less murders.