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We must get to the root causes of youth crime
• I AM sure that everyone in Camden shares my horror at the two tragic teenage murders in our community in the last month.
Ben Kinsella, 16 was killed on York Way last Sunday, and 17-year-old Sharma’arke Hassan was fatally shot in the head by Regent’s Canal in Camden at the end of May.
Ben Kinsella was the 17th teenager to die violently in London so far this year and Sharma’arke Hassan was the 15th.
I believe that these violent deaths are the tip of a very worrying iceberg.
For some youths growing up in Camden today, crime and violence are becoming ways of life. For many more, there is no engagement with education or employment.
We need to take tough action against crime where we find it. I support Boris Johnson’s zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour.
Clamping down on low-level criminality means more serious crimes are less likely to occur. We need more police on the streets.
It is wrong that only 80 of Camden’s 800 police are on the streets or available to respond at a given point in time. The government’s plans to close local police stations are crazy, given this need.
Most importantly, we need to get to the root causes of youth crime. For example, we need to provide more youth activities in our most deprived areas and involve the voluntary sector more in delivering this.
We also need to realise that divided communities lead to social breakdown and consequently crime.
We should recognise that we need to do more work to integrate immigrant communities – for example, through English language lessons and a stronger shared (rather than separate) identity.
We need to strengthen society by encouraging parents to bring up families as a unit, through the tax and benefits system.
To ensure that all children get a proper start in life, we need to reform the state education system.
For example, teachers should have more power to ensure that there is discipline in their classrooms.
Camden’s scrutiny committee on community safety, which I chair, will be urgently looking into these issues.
Whatever political views we each might hold, it’s clear that change is needed.
CLLR CHRIS PHILP
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Hampstead & Kilburn
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