Tag Archives: knife crime

Wood Green development

Posted on by

Surgery all morning at Wood Green library followed by meeting with the council officers involved in the Wood Green Master Plan.

Master Plan is a bit of a misnomer – as this is really a Wood Green Planning and Business Improvement document. It’s early stages – but as far as I could glean this was a bit of strategic assessment of what might improve the regeneration and status of the area. There are a number of big sites that will be developed in the relatively near future – like Heartlands and the old Civic Centre site. The issues of jobs in an area of high unemployment, planning, sustainability and so on need to be handled sensibly to bring in the sort of retail that will provide more trade and attract more people – whilst taking into account in the needs of local residents whose services – such as transport, schools and health facilities – will need to cope with any growth. And the confidence of residents is dented when ghastly looking buildings from lowest common denominator developers get built.

However, that having been said, I am heartened by the fact that strategic thinking is going on – so long as it is followed by strategic consultation before it gets to a stage where we all feel we have no effect on outcome. I was delighted to learn that the new Haringey Chief Exec – Ita O’Donovan – has been having a go about design quality of the built environment. In my first meeting with her, I made it clear that I felt Wood Green was being damaged by ugly buildings that people then had to live with for years. In fact my first speech in Parliament talked about this – as it is always those in areas of deprivation who get the most badly stuffed by this sort of crappy design and materials.

I also lobbied at the meeting for improvement to Wood Green station – which can barely cope with the numbers already using it. It is not just a lick of paint that is needed but a redevelopment and expansion of capacity. And my last thrust was on sustainability – this is an opportunity to bring some real meaning to sustainability and also to be innovative. Why not bring some real green-ness to Wood Green High Street – water, trees, landscaping, planting street furniture of a real high standard – would all make such a difference! And the front of the library … need I say more?

Last issue of the day is the tragic knifing of schoolboy Kiyan Prince in Edgware. Carrying a knife in a public place should carry the same sentence as that for firearms. If you are murdered by a gun or murdered by knife, the outcome is the same – you are dead. In the Violent Crime Reduction Bill going through Parliament the Lib Dems did put an amendment at Report Stage asking for this. Labour voted against increasing the sentence. The Bill will raise the age at which you can buy a knife from 16 to 18 – which we supported (despite Labour’s attacks on us to the contrary) – but wanted Labour to put in what types of knives were prohibited. As it stands the new legislation means you will be able to get married at 16 but not buy your cutlery from John Lewis until you are 18!

The 7-year tariff for carrying a gun has reduced gun crime. Knives should be the same. I don’t take the view that we should automatically have scanners in every school – that is not the answer to knife crime. I heartily approve of teachers being given the powers to search those kids they suspect of carrying – but don’t believe we should treat all children as criminals. Even more importantly, as knife-carrying is epidemic, is to work on the why and the causes to change behaviour. The culture means that kids believe it is cool to carry a knife – a fashion accessory to gain status. Supporting teachers, the school police person, acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) which target behaviour improvement – we need a long sustained and well-resourced emphasis on working on children to turn this around. Punishment, strong sentencing and enforcement all play an important part – but they are not enough on their own to counter the ills of society.

Drama in the bookshop

Posted on by

Clearing up my emails, phone calls, paperwork etc. – and trying to make sure Christmas happens. I ran to Highgate Village this morning to the local bookshop – always a very good choice of books despite being tiny.

Suddenly the police arrived, put handcuffs on another browser – a young man – and marched him out. One of the policemen came back in the shop to say they had nicked the chap. The staff (two women) had seen a knife sticking out of his back pocket and he had been ‘browsing’ for about 40 minutes. Rather than tackle him directly they had called the police – quite rightly – but now one of them was saying she felt bad.

At which point the policeman outside yelled that they had found another knife in his rucksack. I told the staff they had done really well, and one of them said how quickly the police had come – within five minutes. The thinking was that the guy was waiting for the shop to empty so that he could then perhaps hold up the two young women. If so – foiled – thank goodness.

Anyway – I just wanted to put up a good news story – as we often forget – what a fantastic job the police do for the vast majority of the time. And when you spend your time looking for flaws in performance – it is really great to have the opportunity to put up a good news story. Well done both police and shop staff. And I bought 7 books!

Violent Crime Reduction Bill

Posted on by

The critical parts of the Violent Crime Reduction Bill are proposals brought forward by the Government to deal with alcohol-fuelled disorder and the rise of weapons (use and carrying) on our streets.

I am right behind the Government on the overall aims. I may well be critical of some of the detail – and am very critical of the way they may use the new powers – but drinking and gun and knife crime need tackling. I also think that this legislation (as ever) just deals with the symptoms of the dreadful malaise that stalks (mainly) our young people – some of whom drink to oblivion and some of whom in believe that carrying a weapon makes you cool.

However, one of the key point of the Bill is Drink Banning Orders. They are a bit akin to parents grounding their children – a short sharp punishment which would stop them from being able to go to their favourite pub or club for a couple of months. The grounds for dishing one our are problematic – as one Labour MP seemed to think that running down a street and calling to a friend would be enough to constitute disorder. There was no definition of disorder – but in the end the proposals try and target behaviour which by ‘normal’ standards would be unacceptable but not criminal. Difficult – but we will see how it works. It will need close monitoring.

Another proposal is that – in areas where there are lots of establishments serving alcohol – a local authority or a police chief can impose an Alcohol Disorder Zone (ADZ). This will be a defined area where all the establishments where alcohol is a prime reason for their existence will have to pay extra for policing.

The idea is good – but the difficulty in this part of the legislation is that well-behaved good landlords with model establishments will have to pay too. The Government as a consequence of opposition concerns has promised a variable charging scheme – so that culpability is relative to charge. But so far we have seen nothing concrete.

Also the Government has refused to cap the charge that can be made – so businesses don’t know how much they may be in for. I think there may be some real unjust actions as a consequence of ADZs. For instance – each area has an opportunity to put together an 8-week action plan. If the plan is also agreed by the Local Authority and the police they will then have 8 weeks to take the actions and demonstrate that they do not need to have such a zone imposed.

However, take the example of a good landlord within the action plan area who does everything asked of him by the plan, spends money, puts in lighting, hires more door staff – whatever required by the agreed plan. If others don’t do what is required the local authority will still impose the plan and the good landlord will have to stomp up despite doing everything that was asked of him. That is bound to breed resentment and become a disincentive to good behaviour.

The other part of the Bill is mainly about weapons. Basically the Bill, quite rightly, seeks to address the rise in knife crime and the use of imitation weapons along with some new limits on legal weapons. LibDems support the Government on this – and during the course of the passage of the Bill we have sought to address the rise in knife crime to give it parity to gun crime. The 7-year sentence on carrying a gun has seemingly produced a drop in gun crime.

We table an amendment that will impose an equal sentence on carrying a knife as a gun. You are equally dead if murdered by a knife as a gun – so we are seeking parity of sentence. Unfortunately, Labour voted against increasing the charge for carrying a knife. They have a measure in the Bill that raises the age from 16 to 18 for purchasing or selling a knife. But there is no description as to what sort of knife – which leaves the unsatisfactory position of being able to get married and have children at 16 but not buy cutlery!

Imitation guns have become a real problem – but the whole of the re-enactment brigade and airsoft players (a game) are up in arms (so to speak) in case their pastimes are inhibited. All of us on the Bill across all parties have been trying to bend over backwards to ensure that the games can continue but that the mischief of imitation weapons is ended.

So the Bill, supported by both Lib Dems and Tories, now goes on its way to the Lords. The measures will curb some of the excesses we all hope – but we all know that deep down this Bill just doesn’t begin to address what lies beneath: what is the root cause of the disaffection of our young people so that they drink themselves stupid and aspire to carrying weapons? That is the nut we have to really crack.

ID cards and knife crime

Posted on by

Spent day ping-ponging between my home and Millbank to do TV interviews covering the imminent debate on ID cards. Buggered up my Sunday – but well worth it as absolutely passionately against this misguided and authoritarian legislation.

Meanwhile, a bit of whimsy … One of the big problems behind knife crime and the culture that goes with it is that having a knife is seen as cool. How to break this culture? Why not issue a knife to every MP … that would be the death knell of coolness for the poor knife!

Violent Crime Reduction Bill

Posted on by

Big day – as ‘my’ Bill (the Violent Crime Reduction Bill) is getting its second reading today. I won’t have to lead on the floor of the Commons as our Shadow Home Secretary, Mark Oaten, will do that. But I will have to speak and get a grip on the debate so that when I lead for the Lib Dems as the bill goes through its committee stage I will know what I am doing and where the debate is.

(If you’re wondering what second readings and committee stages are, there’s an explanation of how laws pass through Parliament at www.libdems.org.uk/parliament/legislation.html).

But first I have lunch with the Evening Standard lobby correspondent. He seems really OK. Have worked with lots of journalists from the ES and they have all been great – so far.

Then (barring quick press conference on the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill) off to the chamber for the debate on the Violent Crime Reduction Bill. Basically this bill tries to address the twin rising problems of alcohol and weapons. In a typically Labour way – some of it is right, but some of it is gesture ‘tough on crime’ politics.

For example – there is a proposal to stiffen the laws around the manufacture, sale and carrying of imitation firearms. I totally agree with the general intent of this. However – the bit on carrying states that the sentence will be raised from 6 months to 12 months. So I make an intervention whilst Charles Clarke (Home Secretary) is introducing the proposals to ask why a 6 month stiffening? What work has been done to estimate the reduction in carrying that that particular length of sentence will deliver?

Basically – it’s all speculative says Charles. Hmm – not an impressive way to make laws! (You can read the exchange in Hansard).

OK – so what would I have done to establish this before guestimating an addition to the sentence? I would have first established how many people had been done for carrying and what sentences they had (in fact I have a Parliamentary Question down on this). I would have gone back to them to survey whether they had any idea of what sentence was on the books, how much of deterrent it was, etc.

Anyway – the main area of disaster in these proposals is the plan for Alcohol Disorder Zones. If there is a lot of drunken, abusive and criminal behaviour in a particular location, the Local Authority and the Police will have the power to create an area where all those inside deemed to have alcohol as their main trade (a minefield in itself) will have eight weeks in which to produce an action plan and improve. But if they don’t – a levy will be imposed to pay for extra policing.

Fine in principle – polluter pays. Love it. But – good landlords will be treated same as bad (and probably move to a better area). The area will get a name as a ‘no go’ area – and people (consumers) will stop going there. Property values will plummet. And so on.

So – sounds a good idea at first – but not thought through. But as I say – the thrust of the Bill to get a grip on the British malaise of drinking yourself to oblivion on a Friday night is right. But as ever with Labour – there is no other side to the equation: examining why people drink themselves stupid, why it is a status symbol to carry a knife or a gun – and so on.

When the great reforming legislation on drink driving and wearing a seatbelt came into being – the Government put immense resource behind the message it was sending out about irresponsible behaviour. The resource was both in enforcement of the legislation yet also the huge educational and advertising campaigns that accompanied the change in the law. Labour is still shallow in its intent and will. Right message – lack of real depth to deliver change!

And I said so in my speech!

Violent Crime Bill

Posted on by

The Violent Crime Bill is published today. I am the Lib Dem spokesperson on this in the Commons and will be taking it through the committee stage.

The bill is to bring in measures to address the rising problems around replica guns, the age at which you can buy a knife and binge-drinking. All very real problems – so Lib Dems are broadly in favour of the measures – with some heavy provisos around the detail, which I guess are where our amendments will be as we go through the legislation.

A while back, as a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), I went to visit the Met’s firearms division SO19 to see what armed officers do, learn about their training and see what they have to confront. There is now this amazing video / computer technology that puts you in a crime situation – and you see something happen, maybe a gun turn on you, and in a split second have to decide what action to take. Then it flashes up on the screen whether you were right to shoot or wrong – or indeed whether you are dead. Salutary experience for me. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get it right one hundred percent of the time. And I certainly couldn’t tell the difference between a replica gun and a real one.

Moreover, I went into the arms room where they have dozens of guns and their replicas – side by side in pairs – from revolvers to rifles. These are not some near approximation for the real thing. These replicas are indistinguishable from the real thing.

So – I am supportive of banning such replicas – so long as the law isn’t an ass. What I mean is that it has to be enforceable at the same time as not interfering with the harmless – such as props for plays. Let’s hope the legislation can cope with drawing this distinction in a workable manner.

On the age being raised to 18 to buy a knife – I think the government will get itself in a tangle. There is a great debate to be had about the age of majority. What can and should one be allowed to do at 16, 17 or 18? However, the notion that a couple can marry and have children at 16 but not buy a knife may well be in danger of being the wrong solution to a very real problem.

I regard knife crime as seriously as I regard gun crime and do not understand why knife crime carries lesser sentences. That is an area I would like to see tackled alongside a wide debate about the age of majority.

And then there is binge-drinking. Perhaps the government needs to pause before going ahead with 24 hour lifestyles. In the end – it is probably right – but there are clearly a number of drawbacks that need attention before that goes ahead.

But the real point about all of the above – they may go some way to satisfying the ‘tough on crime’ but they don’t even begin to touch on being ‘tough on the causes of crime’. What is it in our society that makes young men aspire to criminality as a way of gaining status with their peers? Why does carrying a knife mean more than doing well at school? Why do young people want to drink themselves into oblivion on a Friday night?

A change in culture is the hardest thing to achieve – because it takes massive effort at all levels for a long time. Sometimes laws can deliver – drink driving and wearing seatbelts are examples. But there was so much more than legislation to them. There was a real underlying resource poured into campaigning and advertising – and that is what shifted the culture when combined with enforcement.

So tough laws can deliver – but not if they are only there for appearance sake.