Quote:Knife crime may be an emergency but no one can agree how to stop it.The Guardian:
'The surge in knife crime, described by senior police officers as a national emergency, has prompted
calls for troops to be deployed and fuelled a political row about government cuts.
Is knife crime at its highest level ever?
After 2007, when 48 children under the age of 19 were killed by blades in England and Wales, the annual
number of deaths subsided until 2014. Since then figures have risen again, with 39 deaths in 2017 and 37
last year.
So far in 2019, 11 teenagers have died from stabbings, six of them in London. Most of the killings have been
in big cities –in the capital, the West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Why is knife crime rising so fast?
Reasons for the increase are disputed.
Cuts to police numbers, reduced funding for youth clubs and services, higher secondary school exclusion rates
and the growth of county lines drug dealing operations have all been cited as contributory causes.
The number of police officers has fallen by more than 20,000 since 2009, though crime rates were higher back
then. Nick Davison, an assistant chief constable in Norfolk, has identified the concept of “ultra-violence”,
where younger recruits enhance their status within gangs by executing acts of increasingly outrageous savagery.
Is knife crime moving up the political agenda?
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has chaired a meeting with chief constables at which they indicated they were
drawing up demands for £15m in emergency grants to help tackle the crisis.
Javid has previously pledged to do everything he can to provide police with the necessary resources.
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has so far resisted calls for fresh money, arguing that police should redirect existing
resources into tackling knife crime. The Local Government Association says grants that fund the work of youth offending
teams have been halved from £145m in 2010/11 to £71.5m in 2018/19.
What can be done to prevent more deaths?
There have been calls for stronger stop and search powers to deter knife-carrying among youths, although many say this
could alienate black youths who have been disproportionately targeted by officers in the past.
The supermarket chain Asda said at the weekend it would stop selling single kitchen knives by April; they are the most
commonly stolen items, the store said.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has suggested that by following Glasgow’s example it could take 10 years to change
street culture among the next generation of children and persuade them that carrying knives is unacceptable...'
Notice the one word that is missing in this entire article that will definitely have a bearing on knife-crime statistics...?
See how The Guardian -and to be fair, many other media outlets always suggest looking to an authoritative body to help
decrease this crime and yet, fail to see the irony in what they're pointing out.
The word that is missing is 'Parents'.
Instead of looking to bureaucratic bodies to stop the youngsters, it's time to hold the parents accountable.
Please don't tell me controlling your grown-up child is an issue, it isn't. I do understand if you're a single mother
and failed to infuse the right standards in your kid as he/she was growing up, but he/she's still your kid.
The Government isn't your father, no matter how many different facets of care it covers. It gives you a home
and gives you money for food and clothes. It tells you what you can and can't do and it constantly assures you
that you can't do without it.
Put the Twitter down and stop thinking about which coat to wear when you visit your child's grave.
Act like a boring, responsible parent to make sure the next generation won't need the Government teat to suck on
and will enhance their position, the task you failed to do for yourself.
Be the person your child needs and forget the stereotype-drama on social media. It's not important if your child
came about because you perceive social welfare as a way of life or maybe you made a mistake in a back-alley
with the guy who promised he loved you, the kid is here now and alive.
Read a book... both you and your issue, read a book.
But of course, taking such advice that would open a big can of nasty worms in the politically-correct arena of the
middle-class and those who write such bland articles -like above, will make them feel uneasy.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.