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Met cranks up blitz on street gangs
05.07.08A team of police officers dedicated to targeting gangs will take to the streets in a bid to tackle knife crime in a week that has seen a spate of stabbings in London.
The Met Police announced the creation of the 75-man taskforce on the same day that another teenager died - after being attacked by a masked gang.
Shakilus Townsend, 16, pleaded for his mother as he lay wounded in the street in Thornton Heath, south London.
Officers said they were hunting three black teenagers who ambushed Shakilus, stabbing him in the chest and beating him around the head. The youths had pulled up their hoods and covered their faces in bandanas for the planned attack.
They also want to trace a black girl, aged in her mid-teens and wearing a floral dress, who stood back with up to eight others and watched the sickening attack.
Police have recovered two knives, one of which was described by a witness as 18 inches long.
The death brings the toll of teenagers killed in knife attacks in the capital this year to 18.
Met Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson emphasised that tackling knife crime was now the force's "number one priority". He said the taskforce would be deployed to the worst affected of London's 32 boroughs "with immediate effect".
Teams of officers have already been deploying to trouble hotspots since the launch of Operation Blunt 2 in May.
Armed with wands and knife arches, the officers have been carrying out searches using powers under Section 60 of the Public Order Act, which allows them to operate under the presumption of reasonable suspicion.
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I agree I'm a 33 year old Jamaican black man living in Birmingham and I m a youth worker I became a youth worker after my son was stabbed 2 years ago, ever since I ve been trying to steer young kids from gangs and lives of crimes and drugs in Birmingham. I have to say it has been hard. When I was 19 I was in a gang in the Lozells area of Birmingham I got into dabbling with drugs such as selling it such as cannabis on the street soon I was selling cocaine and heroin and I dabbled in that and became addicted. I ve been clean for 8 years now but it's very easy to get into gangs and drugs. I know youths in Birmingham who are in gangs and are on drugs right now. I wouldn't say knife crime and gun crime has been increasing or decreasing in Birmingham, it just goes quiet for bit then explodes and carries on like that but I would say both gun crime and knife crime has risen in Birmingham this year. 2008.
- Dwayne Mark, Birmingham
This story has broken my heart, that a dying child should long to see his mum.
As far as I am concerned nothing is going to solve this problem until these killers start paying with their own lives for killing innocent children.
'An eye for an eye' and 'A tooth for a tooth'.
To me, there is no justice for these children who are being killed everyday.
This issue of defendants claiming they pick up knife from the floor for self-defence, has to be properly investigated because criminals are going to be using this excuse to walk free. Even if they were in possession of knife, they will claim they picked it up from the floor.
The scale of these killings shows no sign of decreasing rather it is getting worse.
People should not sit on the fence or be unperturbed, thinking this cannot happen to them. The time has come for us to stand up as a nation and fight this ill.
People should not feel afraid to bring ideas or suggestions. Who knows, the solution to this problem might lie within the citizens rather than just relying on the government or the police force.
Some parents are now scared to take their children, even to the park .
These killers even when convicted get to see their families and if they behave well, after a few years they are released. Is this justice? Life should mean life with no parole.
I express my sincere condolence to families of Shakilus, Ben and all the others who have lost someone. May their souls rest in peace, Amen.
- Margaret Asibong, London
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