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Revealed: 100 stabbings in London this year
Rob Singh and Justin Davenport, Evening Standard14.05.08
More than 100 people have been stabbed this year in London, the Evening Standard reveals today.
The dramatic scale of knife attacks was highlighted as a crackdown using hundreds of police armed with metal detectors was launched.
The Standard has collated figures from Scotland Yard, City of London Police and British Transport Police.
We found detailed evidence of 79 of this year's stabbings in which 33 people died. There were other incidents in which details were sketchy which take the total to more than 100 in just four months.
Ten were teenagers, with the youngest victim, 14-year-old Amro Elbadawi, killed in West Kilburn in March.
In total, police dealt with 1,664 violent "knife-enabled" crimes - which range from murders to muggings where blades were brandished to threaten victims.
The figure came after a string of stabbings in the last few days culminating in a 22-year-old being killed in front of hundreds of shoppers in Oxford Street, prompting one of London's most senior policemen to vow: "Enough is enough." Boris Johnson's most senior adviser on policing, Kit Malthouse, said knife crime was now tarnishing London's reputation around the world. "It is a scandal and a disgrace," he told the Standard.
"London is getting the name for being a knife crime capital around the world and we are determined to do something about this." Senior officers met yesterday after seeing Mr Johnson following the murder of Steven Bigby on Monday outside a McDonald's in Oxford Street.
Today it was revealed he was on bail accused of rape and a stabbing and was known to police as a member of a notorious north London gang. After the summit, Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin said action would now be taken to deal with the knife crime culture. The operation, codenamed Blunt Two, is being launched in the London borough with the highest rate of knife crime.
Police are refusing to name the borough so knife-carrying criminals are not alerted. The searches will focus on transport centres such as bus and rail stations as well as routes leading to and from schools. It will be rolled out across 10 of the worst affected boroughs within weeks.
After the first night of the stop and search initiative, a police spokesman said no information was yet available on how many people had been stopped or arrested. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith gave her full support to the operation.
Police say the initiative is long term and designed to stop young people carrying knives.
The Met has received funding from the Home Office for an extra 300 weapon detectors. Mr Godwin said: "This is the time to say enough is enough. We have to drive down the number of stabbings in London.
"Our objective is not to harass people but to keep people safe. We are getting a significant amount of support for this. People from all walks of life want us to stop this."
Teams of officers equipped with airport-style "knife arches" and hand-held wands which detect weapons are being deployed on the streets.
Police will use stop and search powers under Section 60 of the Public Order Act to carry out checks on people suspected of carrying knives.
The wide-ranging order allows officers to carry out searches without having "reasonable suspicion" that the suspect is armed.
The move is expected to see a dramatic rise in the number of controversial searches carried out.
There is also to be a review of how knife crime is recorded so that the actual number of stabbings is made public.
The crackdown marks a break with Ken Livingstone's response to an outbreak of knife crime, when he accused the media of sensationalising the problem.
Mr Johnson said today that as an additional measure, uniformed police officers are to be put on the top deck of buses to support adults who want to challenge anti-social behaviour.
He added: "We're going to give adults more confidence by doubling the safer transport teams."
• Additional reporting: Anna Davis
Reader views (17)
im black and its quite true its mainly black people commiting these crimes. i dont know why but the truth is the only way to prevent this is to give life sentences or at least 10 years for carrying a knife. how else can the message be put clearly across? people only carry knives knowing that they wont recieve a real sentence unless they are actually caught stabbing someone.
- Michael D, Deptford, London
I Personally Think Custodial Sentences In The UK Make These Young People Worse Instead Of Reforming Them...Think About It....Prison Is Supposed To Be Punishment, However If These Prisoners Show "Good behaviour" They Are Rewarded!!!! REWARDED FOR WHAT? Theyre Criminals....They Deserve To Be Sent To Prisons In Countries Like Afghanistan, Im 100% Sure This Will Send All Of These Thugs A Strong Message
- Goonscape, West London
Every in the world throughout the centuries, has experienced violence and murder
- Tom Stabbard, London England
Thats too many stabbings!
- Tom, blandford,england
I'm sorry but these figures don't shock me at all. The claim by Kit Malthouse that "London is getting the name for being a knife crime capital around the world" is just plain silly. 33 knife murders in five and a bit months in an area of over 7 million is not, sadly, high. A multiple number of people will have been stabbed to death in Rio de Janeiro so far in 2008, despite over 80% of that city's homicides being with firearms.
To answer Ken from Balham's query about it being odd that nearly all these incidents have happened in north London, most of the murder-prone boroughs are, in fact (contrary to popular belief), north of the river. Haringey, Brent, Hackney and Newham are four of the five worst murder spots in London over the last 10 years.
- Dodger, London, England
When will the media drop their p.c. charade and openly accept that virtually all the murders and shootings are perpetrated by ethnic minorities. In so doing, we can as a society then address the root cause of why these sections of society are stabbing and shooting people. The influence of American rap/gang culture? poverty?
- Ken Dorset, Kilburn London
100 Stabbings ?
Or could it be that some, many, or most of these crimes were "Shankings".
This linguistic difference might throw new light on multicultural London, and the folly of promoting some cultures when it is clear they are dead ended with nothing to offer society.
But lets keep ignoring the elephant in the room.
Anyway, the purpratrators will no doubt be offered youth courses to "Be A Rapper" or "Be A DJ", rather than "Be A Plumber" or "Be A Teacher".
The moronic liberal establishment is perpetuating a moronic "culture" at great cost to society.
- Adrian, London
Caught with a knife?
Six months minimum, no parole, no excuses.
Stop pussyfooting around and start making it really obvious.
UK was always heavy on gun possession, it should do the same for the rest.
- Rob Neal, United Kingdom
What will the London police do when the crimes start carrying knives made of ceramic, hard plastic, or even stout wood? Is there a detector for one of Monte Python's "pointed sticks." I assume arrests can be made for suspicious possession of screwdrivers or other tools capable of dual usage.
- Chet Vanek, Sunnyvale CA USA
I think you need more gun control. That will solve the problem.
I thought that once firearms were banned in England, that violent crime would cease to exist. How can this be possible? Maybe you should allow the honest citizens to arm themselves and fight back.
- Rick, Kansas City, USA
This is not "knife crime" - this is "black crime" - until we at least admit to the actual problem - when will be ever find a solution?
- Steve Lee, London
I think the parents of these youngsters carrying out such horrific crimes should be named and shamed afterwards. This may deter some of them from committing murder.
- Donna, Murcia SPAIN
Why do people still express surprise? This is nothing to what it`s going to be like. The casualties are far higher than the statistics suggest. Already the gangs have begun to infiltrate the police, who have no control over them.
When are the powers, so called, in control going to abandon `human rights` and start bringing back sensible deterrents. So the prisons are all ready full? So what?
- Banres, Cambrdge/England
The worrying thing about this shocking figure is that the number of stabbings is actually higher. I know this for a fact as my sister was stabbed on the 2nd January 2008 whilst walking home alone from work in Homerton in a random attack. Thank God she survived but was in hospital for 2 weeks. She's not on the list, so I wonder how many more people have been omitted? We need a zero tolerance policy on knife crime and quickly, it's already out of hand. London feels so unsafe, you don't have to be in a gang, or in trouble, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Lucy W, North London
100 stabbings? Clear proof, as if it were needed, that we're experiencing an epidemic of teenage chav scum violence, despite what 'Nu Labour' tell us.
- David, London, England
Bizarrely it looks as though the vast majority have occurred north of the river, so much for South London being a no go area or do we just shoot each other down here?
- Ken Ington, Balham
Perhaps Boris should provide some kind of gladiatorial arena where all these knife-wielding scumbags can go and sort it out between themselves and take it off the streets where bystanders could be hurt. Just imagine if every rapist, murderer and mugger walking the streets could fight it out amongst themselves and spare us the cost of a trial and imprisonment. London would be like some grubby Garden of Eden.
- Squiz, Islington
