Government Cash Will Not Solve Knife Crime Epidemic

A CASH injection of £100m into the fight against knife crime is a knee jerk reaction that will not cure the problem, Essex Police Federation has said.

The Home Office has pledged to spend the cash on new violent crime units in the worst affected areas and to pay for officers’ overtime.

But for Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor, the cash won’t do anything to address changing an endemic knife crime culture.

He said: “I think it’s a knee-jerk reaction and I think it’s trying to use police officers to close the stable door once the horse has bolted. I don’t think it’s going to work.

“The problems we have with knife crime are endemic; they’re engrained in the culture, unfortunately, of those that carry knives regularly.

“Throwing a couple of extra bobbies out to patrol, intelligence-led patrols and whatever ¬– I’m sceptical as to what impact that’s going to have.

“Tragically, I think we’re still going to see knife crime. And I firmly believe that the solutions to that problem lie in society. They lie in social care and education.”

Steve emphasised that the police service cannot combat knife crime single-handedly, especially when officer numbers are down and the tools they could use to tackle it are restricted.

He explained: “The police cannot solve the knife crime epidemic on their own.

“Officer numbers are not what they should be. The public’s appetite for stop and search meets resistance, so the proactive things that the police can do are restricted.

“The solution to knife crime is long term and it requires investment in better social care and better education, better community projects. Not throwing a paltry amount at the police, asking them to do even more with less and thinking that in any way, shape or form is going to be acceptable.

“Anecdotally we’re understanding that people committing these crimes are not deterred by the criminal justice system, they’re not deterred at the prospect of spending 10 years in prison for a knife crime.

“Invariably, they’re young men, and they’ll come out and they’ll still have their lives to lead. And it’s still that cultural thing that’s wrapped around them, around gangs, around that type of violence that, even if we do ask our officers to do even more and throw even more overtime at them and get them on the streets more frequently, the deterrent isn’t there.”