A CASH injection of \u00a3100m into the fight against knife crime is a knee jerk reaction that will not cure the problem, Essex Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
The Home Office has pledged to spend the cash on new violent crime units in the worst affected areas and to pay for officers\u2019 overtime.<\/p>\n
But for Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor, the cash won\u2019t do anything to address changing an endemic knife crime culture.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI think it\u2019s a knee-jerk reaction and I think it\u2019s trying to use police officers to close the stable door once the horse has bolted. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problems we have with knife crime are endemic; they\u2019re engrained in the culture, unfortunately, of those that carry knives regularly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrowing a couple of extra bobbies out to patrol, intelligence-led patrols and whatever \u00ac\u2013 I\u2019m sceptical as to what impact that\u2019s going to have.<\/p>\n
\u201cTragically, I think we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cThe police cannot solve the knife crime epidemic on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficer numbers are not what they should be. The public\u2019s appetite for stop and search meets resistance, so the proactive things that the police can do are restricted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnecdotally we\u2019re understanding that people committing these crimes are not deterred by the criminal justice system, they\u2019re not deterred at the prospect of spending 10 years in prison for a knife crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvariably, they\u2019re young men, and they\u2019ll come out and they\u2019ll still have their lives to lead. And it\u2019s still that cultural thing that\u2019s 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\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"