| |
Amro Elbadawi |
New strategies to beat knife crime follow boy’s death
SHOP-SWOOPS, high-visibility patrols and one-to-one meetings with offenders are part of a new strategy to tackle knife-crime in the wake of the fatal stabbing of Paddington schoolboy Amro Elbadawi.
Westminster City Council’s new strategy is intended to cut the number of incidents involving a knife, especially among youths. A recent survey in Westminster youth clubs revealed 70 per cent of youngsters know someone who has been affected by knife crime.
The strategy was discussed and rubber-stamped at the city council’s crime and disorder policy scrutiny committee last month.
Its chairman Councillor Tony Devenish said: “People of any age who think it is acceptable to carry knives, even for their own protection, will be strongly reminded of the consequences.
“Just because Westminster has not seen the level of knife-related killings which some other boroughs have is no reason to be complacent.
“As well as showing teenagers themselves how damaging it can be, we want to support families whose children may be drawn into the knife culture. Our innovative work with parents, helping them to talk to their sons and daughters about the dangers, brings the issue right to the heart of the family, and we hope this will have as much impact as talking in schools and at youth clubs.
“This is not just a theoretical approach, we are taking concrete actions to bring home the fear, anger and destruction of communities which knives bring.”
Dozens of shops have been subject to almost 50 test purchases by under-age teenagers to root out shops which sells blades to teenagers or children.
Amro Elbadawi, 14, a Paddington Academy pupil, died in March this year after being attacked in Dart Street, close to his home on the Mozart estate in Queen’s Park.
A 16-year-old youth later gave himself up to police in Paddington. |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
