Croydon's best efforts are failing to stem knife crime epidemic, meeting hears

By Aline Nassif

aline.nassif@essnmedia.co.uk

A depressing picture of Croydon's ability to tackle the stabbings which are plaguing our streets was painted this week.

On the one hand, figures presented by Croydon Police and Mayday Hospital to a knife crime conference on Tuesday backed up the perception the borough is in the grip of a knife crime epidemic.

But everyone present said they were already doing valuable work to tackle the problem, which is increasing despite their efforts.

DS David Palmer, of Croydon Police, revealed Croydon is bucking the London trend for reduced knife crime with a marked increase in recent weeks.

He said: "At this stage we're showing an increase [in knife incidents]. "It's against the current trend in the Met police which shows a decrease in knife crime."

He said almost five "knife-enabled" crimes were committed each week between July 2007 and July 2008, a third of which resulted in injury or death.

In total, there were 237 incidents – 134 of those were robberies, and 71 of them involved GBH or ABH.

He also said stabbings were up on last year by 69 – with a spike of activity in July this year compared with last.

This was despite the ongoing anti-knife Operation Blunt 2, which started on May 19.

DS Palmer also expressed concern that "most people who go through the criminal justice system often re-offend".

His figures also showed most knife crime happens in the town centre, with Broad Green and West Thornton wards having the second highest rates.

And those who carry knives are likely to come from the more deprived areas of Croydon.

Mayday Hospital representatives said they saw 108 patients who had been stabbed between September 2007 and August 2008.

Depressingly, but predictably, the majority of them were aged between 15 and 24.

A report by the council's Youth Offending Team (YOT) shared between delegates ahead of the meeting showed 56 per cent of more than 1,500 schoolchildren questioned felt there was "pressure on young people to carry a knife."

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the courts, trading standards, schools and education services.

All took it in turns to demonstrate their contribution to the alarming situation which has already claimed two teen lives this year.

And area everyone agreed needed development was communicating more with the borough's youth.

Cllr Maria Gatland, cabinet member for education, summed up everyone's feelings when she closed the meeting.

She said: "I think it's very clear that we as a council do a vast amount of work, and the work of our partners and voluntary agencies.

"Most compelling for me was the voice of our young people. We need to involve our young people in developing our policies."

Another meeting involving young people will take place at a date to be arranged.

The council's joint scrutiny committee, which called the meeting, will then consider its findings and propose recommendations for service improvement.