Waking up on new year’s day to discover that 4 young men have lost their lives in unrelated knife crimes. The headline reaction is to increase ‘Stop and Search’ – everyone can see it happening, data can be collected and a few convictions will come about as a result. Are former gang members, victims of knife crime and bereaved parents part of the process? They need to be.
It seems to me that these young men already feel on the edges of society – will ‘Stop and Search’ increase their alienation? But in these desperate times is this a sacrifice we have to make? My heart breaks when I see the devastating effects of knife crime on families, it isn’t just a narrow group of gang members: children are dying on their way home from school; playing in the park or sitting on a wall. I don’t have the answers but I do feel angered and confused by this senseless violence.
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