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Warning: Karen Buck |
Massive brawl sparks estate crimewave fear
Act now ‘before someone is killed’, pleads MP
“ACT now before someone gets killed,” warned Karen Buck MP after police struggled to break up a mass brawl involving 60 youths, some as young as 10, on an estate.
The stark plea comes as police and the local community living near the Mozart estate in Queen’s Park – once dubbed “crack city” because of its gritty reputation – are increasingly anxious that the hot weather and school holidays could spark a crime wave.
Only one person has been arrested since the incident last Tuesday night, when dozens of frightened residents called the police, fearing the youths were warring gangs. The youths fled as soon as they heard sirens.
It is understood the fight was triggered by a group arriving from another estate.
But Ms Buck, MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North, was at pains to play down fears of gang activity. She said: “This is not Los Angeles. We’re not talking about the Bloods and the Crips with kids running around with machine guns. The Mozart is not a ghetto. It’s more youthful bravado and wannabes, but I have had enough of youth disorder. It has got bad and something urgently needs to be done before someone gets killed.”
Overall, crime is down and the estate has seen significant improvements since the 1980s with the elimination of blind alleys and walkways that were a haven for muggers and dealers. But police confess they struggle to contain youth disorder in the summer.
Figures for call-outs to the estate are unavailable but they have floated the radical idea of legalising mini-scooters to get a handle on the problem.
Ms Buck said the police and youth services desperately needed more resources if the summer was going to pass peacefully. She said: “We can’t afford to have a repeat of the problems we experienced last year. At the moment police don’t have the resources to cope and youth work is not targeted enough.
“There needs to be more information-sharing between police, youth workers and the local community to sniff out problems. With these kinds of fights, you’re only an inch away from something very serious.”
Noreen O’Neill, chairwoman of Queen’s Park Safer Neighbourhoods Panel, said: “I think the SN team does a really good job. Where things are going wrong is the response teams are letting the police down. They take ages to turn up, scare people away and don’t even get out of their cars. They’re ruining it for the SN team.
“There’s no doubt the youth provision here is not adequate for everyone. In the summer there is nothing for kids to do without paying for it and that urgently needs to change. We would welcome things like legalising mini-mopeds in designated areas. It shows finally someone is thinking outside the box.”
Chief Inspector Jane Connors said: “There is no gang warfare in the area but there are pockets of youth issues. Kids will do what they do, especially in the summer and we need to reach them. It’s all about approaching the groups and having a chat with them more than anything. Traditionally, the police have just reacted to problems which doesn’t work on its own.” |
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