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Islington Tribune - SPECIAL REPORT BY MARK BLUNDEN and PETER GRUNER
Published: 6 July 2007

Flowers and tributes left at the spot where Martin died

Crisis talks tackle teen crime

FEARS that gang culture has taken over Islington streets were voiced this week.
Just two days after the killing of Martin Dinnegan last week, another youth was attacked with a baseball bat and a spade. He needed hospital treatment.
Anxious parents have blamed the lack of police patrols for the lawlessness on the streets.
Police accuse a minority of parents who have no idea what their children are doing at night – although officers admit they do not have unlimited manpower.
On Tuesday at a packed public meeting of Tollington Park Safer Neighbourhoods police team – close to Martin’s Holloway home – residents described being “under siege” from gangs of youths. One resident talked of seeing a group of 30 youths armed with shovels and baseball bats outside his home at 2am watching “wheelie” stunts by a boy on a stolen scooter.
He added: “They’ve turned my street into a drinking and drugs den. But the local neighbourhood police were not available and when you dial 999 you get a police call centre who don’t know the area. The call centre has to prioritise callers and you don’t get a police officer for hours.”
Other residents complained that when police do come and break up gangs the youths merely re-group half an hour later using mobile phones.
One of the biggest frustrations cited by residents was reporting crime to Safer Neighbourhoods police and having to leave a message on an answerphone. Officers often never got back until the following day, it was claimed.
Parents described how they were frightened every time their sons went out.
A teacher said: “If my 16-year-old boy has gone out at night I can’t sleep until he gets home. I thought worrying about my 19-year-old daughter was bad enough, but I think I’m more frightened about what could happen to my boy.”
Chairman of Tollington Park Neighbourhood Watch Anthony Judd said not all large groups of youths were looking for trouble – “some just had nothing to do and nowhere to go”.
A woman who gave her name as Yvonne and described herself as a BBC radio producer said she was not prepared to be intimidated by young men who hung about the streets.
She added: “We have to engage with them rather than demonise them. I’ve said good morning to these youth and they have been courteous. We have to find out what they want, and bring them back into the community.”
Police insisted that figures indicated that crime nationally was going down and people were safer on the streets than ever before. Police Inspector John Archell said a 24-hour police presence had been introduced in problem areas. “Police are taking special measures, including stopping and talking to more people and, when necessary, searching people for weapons,” he added.
He outlined a range of measures that had been introduced before Martin Dinnegan’s death, including the “Respect your life – not a knife” campaign.
“In the last six months, youth workers and police have targeted young people with this message, asking them to sign pledges not to carry a knife and giving out free T-shirts with the campaign’s message,” he said.
The meeting heard that Islington Council and the police monitor sales of knives to under-age youths, and have recently carried out prosecutions.

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