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Grace Fleary-Hollowell, 14, Keisha Ekebugi, 16, and Azanya Byer-Andrews, 14, were among those who attended the Mayoral debate at St Mary’s Church |
Teenagers sus out candidates’ stance on crime
THREE London mayoral candidates – and one stand-in – were grilled by more than 200 Islington teenagers on Monday.
The pews at St Mary’s Church in Upper Street were packed to hear how the Tories’ Boris Johnson, Lib Dem Brian Paddick, Green candidate Sian Berry and Len Duvall, representing Labour mayor Ken Livingstone, would deal with youth crime in London.
The audience asked candidates what they would do for teenagers excluded from school, what role parents should play and the attitude of police towards young people.
Tory candidate Boris Johnson, who lives in Islington, told them: “I love Islington. I run around here, use its shops. I have a kid in the school up the road and fundamentally it’s very safe.
“I worry that there’s a great Styrofoam edifice of media hype [over the level of crime]. But it’s true we have a problem with kids being sucked into catastrophic life choices carrying knives and guns and making disastrous mistakes.”
Mr Paddick, a former policeman who began his career at Hornsey Road station, said police were too busy “chasing stupid targets”. He felt they should conduct targeted stop-and-searches rather than searching all young people.
He told his audience: “You guys know who’s carrying guns and knives. You know who they are but you don’t trust the police enough to phone them up and tell them.”
Mr Duvall pointed out that only “a small number” of teenagers caused harm and mayhem. “Sometimes people grow up and mature and sometimes people go on to greater crimes,” he added.
Ms Berry, a former Archway resident, said existing police powers had to be enforced properly. “The problem is a chronic lack of anything for young people to do,” she added.
After the meeting, Kwami Odoom, 15, a pupil at Islington Arts and Media School in Finsbury Park, said: “I was impressed by Brian Paddick especially. I agreed with his point on stop-and-search and how we need to connect young people with the police.”
Grace Fleary-Hollowell, 14, said: “I was impressed by two people, Brian Paddick and Boris Johnson. I thought Brian Paddick was going to be stuck-up but he was saying how it really is.” |
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