The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk

 
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The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
The London
Knife Crime
S t rategy
J UNE 2 0 1 7

Date
The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

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Greater London Authority
June 2017

Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
More London
London SE1 2AA

www.london.gov.uk
enquiries 020 7983 4000
The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
3

Contents

Foreword from the Mayor                        5

Knife Crime in London                          9

Delivering this Strategy                      21

Taking action                                 27

  Targeting lawbreakers                       29

  Offering ways out of crime                  43

  Keeping deadly weapons off our streets      47

  Protecting and educating young people       53

  Standing with communities, neighbourhoods
  and families against knife crime            63

  Supporting victims of knife crime           69

Measuring progress on knife crime             75
The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
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Foreword - Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

As we publish this Strategy, knife crime    We must not accept that crime and
with injury has been on the increase        violence is a foregone conclusion for
for three years around the country. In      any young person in London, regardless
London, dozens of families have been        of their circumstances. We will redouble
bereaved; many more have seen their         partnership efforts to divert young
loved ones severely injured. I know I       people at highest risk of offending and
speak for the overwhelming majority         victimisation away from a life ruined by
of Londoners when I say that this is        crime and onto a better path.
absolutely unacceptable. It has to stop.
                                            Our communities are sick and tired of the
Through this Strategy, we set out a         damage being done by knife crime. We
comprehensive plan of partnership           hear their voices. In this Strategy we set
action to tackle the immediate threat to    out how we will support communities as
safety posed by knife crime in London.      they stand up against knife crime, with
But, important as it is, tackling the       new funding for grass-roots community
immediate problem is not enough. Over       activities to protect their children and
the last decade, we have seen knife         drive out crime.
crime peak, trough and peak again in
London. I refuse to accept that this is     We recognise that knife crime hurts
the norm. If we are to make a lasting       more than just the person physically
difference, we must do more to get to       injured, and that support services
grips with the deeper issues fuelling       must reach further. We are making
violence and knife crime in our city.       greater investment in support for the
                                            victims of knife crime, their families and
We value all of our citizens and the        wider communities.
contributions they make as a whole in
making London the best city in the world.   We support determined, targeted
Our young citizens play a huge part in      enforcement by the Metropolitan Police
everything that is great about London,      Service (MPS) and partners like Trading
they are vibrant and dynamic, innovative    Standards to get dangerous individuals
and inspirational. We must ensure they      and dangerous weapons off our streets.
have every opportunity to flourish and      This includes greater Borough-led
make the most out of the wealth of          activity to catch knife offenders and to
opportunities which London provides.        deter anyone thinking of carrying a knife.
                                            It includes new activity to target the
                                            online sale of knives to young people,
                                            which must be addressed.
The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
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But we must not submit to a counsel of     The Met are just one of many public
despair that some of our most troubled     services in this city that have suffered
young people are beyond help. We will      massive cuts, and we recognise
not give up on them. We will expand our    the challenges also faced by local
work to reach out to those caught up       authorities, criminal justice partners,
in crime and give them the skills, the     health services and charitable sector
resources and the confidence to get out.   partners. We know we cannot rely
                                           on police, or even statutory services
No one person or organisation has          alone, to respond to knife crime.
all the answers to knife crime, and we     Communities, families, faith groups, the
embarked on producing this strategy        media and cultural sectors; we all have
with a clear ambition to involve as many   a responsibility to encourage young
organisations, groups, communities         people to fulfil their potential and not to
and individuals as possible – bringing     carry and use weapons.
together the expertise and passion of
people doing excellent work every day      I am grateful to everyone who has taken
to keep young people safe. The tough       part in the development of the Strategy,
funding situation for all organisations    and I look forward to working together to
underlines the need for us to work         deliver it.
together, making the most of what we
have at our disposal to make the biggest   We must drive knife crime out of London.
difference we can for our children and     Together, we can do it.
young people. The Met have already
reduced costs by nearly £600m since
2012-13 and the government’s current
funding settlement requires them to
reduce costs by roughly a further £400m
by 2020-21. I am working hard with
the Met to deliver this through greater
efficiency and minimise the impact on
front line officer numbers. But this is
becoming increasingly difficult. The
police service in London needs to be
properly funded and I am making this
case to Government.
The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
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Knife Crime in London
The London Knife Crime Strategy - JUNE 2017 - London.gov.uk
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

What do we mean by knife crime?                       How many knife crimes are there?
                                                      Who are the offenders and who are
Since 2008, knife crime has been                      the victims?
defined as any offence that satisfies
both of the following criteria:                       Knife crime is on the rise across the
                                                      country. In 2016, London (excluding the
• Is classified as an offence of                      City) accounted for around three in ten
  homicide, attempted murder,                         recorded knife offences nationally. 1
  assault with intent to cause harm,                  In the 12 months to March 2017, over
  assault with injury, threats to kill,               12,000 knife crime offences were
  sexual offences (including rape)                    recorded in London. 2 In 2016 knife crime
  and robbery;                                        across England and Wales rose by 14 per
                                                      cent, compared to 11 per cent in London.
• Where a knife or sharp instrument                   The majority of knife crimes in London
  has been used to injure, used                       are related to street violence
  as a threat, or the victim was                      and robbery.
  convinced a knife was present                       KNIFE CRIME
  during the offence.                                 MPS recorded offences
                                                      April 2010 - March 2017
Knife possession offences have been
defined as:                                            13,332
                                                                 14,171

                                                                                                                        12,122
• Having an article with blade                                              11,378

  or point in a public place                                                           10,079
                                                                                                   9,691      9,743

  (including school);

• Threatening with a blade or sharply
  pointed article in a public place
  (including school);

• Possession of offensive weapon;

• Using someone to look after                         FY 10-11   FY 11-12   FY 12-13   FY 13-14   FY 14-15   FY 15-16   FY 16-17
  an offensive weapon;
                                                      1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-
• Threatening with an                                 crime-open-data-tables
  offensive weapon.
                                                      2. Metropolitan Police Recorded Crime data 2016/17 with
                                                      comparisons to 2015/16
11

Analysis of Metropolitan Police crime                             VIOLENCE WITH INJURY Knife crimes
data for 2016/17 indicates that 75 per                            where someone is injured as a result are
cent of victims of knife crime are male                           increasing across England and Wales. In
and frequently aged less than 25 years                            London, in the twelve months to March
of age. 3 Almost half of all victims of knife                     2017 there were over 4,400 victims
crime were from BAME backgrounds.                                 injured as a result of knife crime – from
Those recorded as black ethnicity                                 slight injuries to serious, life threatening
represented one in five of all victims of                         wounds. This is an increase of over 750
knife crime in the last year. For offenders,                      victims compared to the preceding
almost ninety per cent were male and                              year, or 20.5 per cent. During this
of those, 62 per cent were from BAME                              period, 49 per cent of victims of knife
backgrounds.                                                      crime resulting in injury were aged 24
                                                                  or younger. This represents over 2,000
HOMICIDE In 2016/17 there were 110                                young people and an increase on the
homicides across the capital. Of these,                           preceding year of almost 25 per cent.
57 were identified as being fatal knife                           BAME young males are disproportionally
crimes. This includes seven which were                            affected, with 6 in 10 young male victims
domestic abuse related. The remaining                             recorded as from BAME backgrounds.
50 victims were almost exclusively male.                          More specifically, almost half of all young
Almost a third of all female victims of                           male victims of knife crime with injury
homicide were victims of fatal knife crime                        were of black ethnicity.
in the last year. For male victims this was
much higher, with 57 per cent of all male                         Those who commit knife crime with injury
victims of homicides being victims of                             are predominantly described as male and
fatal knife crime.                                                frequently from a BAME background. 4
                                                                  Of male offenders, over half were
Young BAME males were frequently the                              described as black males aged under
victims of non-domestic abuse related                             25 years of age. It is also recognised
fatal knife crime in that period, with                            that there is a huge overlap between
almost half of all victims of non-domestic                        victims and offenders, and that they are
knife homicide being black males aged                             not always to separate groups. Likewise,
between 15 and 24 years of age.                                   whilst ninety per cent of knife crime
                                                                  offenders are male, 10% are female
                                                                  and interventions and activity delivered
                                                                  through the strategy must recognise the
3. MPS knife crime victims data 2016/17.
                                                                  role of women and girls as offenders as
4. 2016/17 accused data shows that almost 88% of knife            well as victims.
crime offenders who commit crime resulting in injury were male.
Of these, 65% were described as BAME
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
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POSSESSION of weapon offences have
also increased in the most recent period
across England and Wales. In 2016/17
there were approximately 4,000 crimes
recorded in London, representing an
increase of almost 23 per cent on the
preceding year. As possession offences
are often identified through police
activity targeting people suspected
of carrying a weapon, this may be an
indication of greater police activity
rather than an increasing prevalence in
this type of crime.
                                               What do we mean
Why are people carrying and
                                               by ‘habitual knife
using knives?                                  carrier’?
The majority of research conducted             A habitual knife carrier is
into weapon carrying has pointed to            determined by the police as any
self-defence and protection 5 as a key         individual that has come up at least
reason why young people carry knives.          twice as a suspect on the Crime
Significantly, for people surveyed,            Record Information System (CRIS)
protecting themselves from others              for Possession of an Offensive
carrying weapons was considered to             Weapon / Knife / Bladed Article or
outweigh the risk of being caught by           a Knife Injury excluding Domestic
police. 6 However we also recognise that       Abuse offence in the last two years.
the decision to carry or use weapons
is often more complex – in many cases          AND;
knives are carried not for protection but
to intimidate others, to facilitate robbery,   At least one of the above offences
to deliberately injure or kill or simply for   is in the last 12 months unless this
the perceived power and status that the        subject has been in prison for a
carrying of a weapon provides.                 period in the last 12 months.

5. Lemos, 2004; Squires et al.,2008

6. Broadhurst et al. (2008)
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

In May 2017, the Deputy Mayor for                     in order to protect themselves. Young
Policing and Crime met young offenders                people are aware of the areas where
at HMP Isis who had collectively been                 they feel they will be at a greater risk
directly involved as both victims                     of being hurt and stated that they will
and offenders of knife related injury                 always choose to be “safe rather than
offences, discharging of a firearm and                sorry” when asked if worried about being
other serious violent offences, and                   caught by the police.
were deemed to be amongst the most
prolific and high risk offenders within               What is the relationship between gangs
Isis. Their view was that street robbery              and knife crime?
was a key reason why young people
carry a knife; stating many young people              Research 7 has shown a greater likelihood
are exposed either directly or through                of carrying knives among gang members
the experiences of their peers to street              compared to non-gang members, with a
robbery between the ages of 11 and 14.                significant difference in the percentage
The statistics support this - Robbery –               of people carrying knives between
Personal Property (42%) and Grievous                  these two groups. A review of survey
Bodily Harm (34%) offences continue to                data from the New English and Welsh
be the highest recorded categories of                 Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-
Knife crime. This results in a perception             ADAM) programme at various custody
of danger and risk amongst young                      suites across the country found highly
people and that they need to have a knife             significant differences in weapon
                                                                                     7. McVie, 2010
15

“…when considering our responses to
knife crime in London, it is important
to understand that knife crime is much
more than just gang related activity.”

carrying between gang members               As such, when considering our
and non-gang members, with a greater        responses to knife crime in London,
tendency to carry weapons among             it is important to understand that knife
gang members.                               crime is much more than just gang
                                            related activity; focusing exclusively on
Recent data suggests that the majority      gangs is not going to solve or adequately
of knife crime is not gang-related. Gang-   impact on our knife crime challenges in
flagged crime accounted for 5% of all       London; this Strategy also recognises
knife crime with injury during 2016 –       that there has been a shift in offending
                                            patterns with a renewed emergence
down from almost 9% in the preceding
                                            of group related offending, a group of
year. However, gang-related knife crimes
                                            individuals who cannot be classified
are usually of a more violent nature to
                                            as being part of an organised group or
other knife related offending and that
                                            gang. It should also be recognised that
young black and ethnic minority males       gang and group violence is often linked
are disproportionately affected by more     to drug markets, and that stabbings and
serious and violent forms of knife crime,   knife crime can be asociated with the
where an injury has resulted from the       control of drug supply both within and
offence. Statistics show that the victims   beyond London. These changing trends
of serious, gang motivated knife crime      in offending behaviour and patterns will
are predominantly male (92 per cent),       continue to be monitored and responded
young (80 per cent under 25 years of        to, whilst never losing sight of gang
age) and from a BAME background.            related offending which continues to be
                                            a key priority.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

                                                      Women, girls and knife crime

                                                      This strategy targets girls and young
                                                      women who carry and use knives
                                                      alongside their male counterparts.
                                                      However there are significant
                                                      proportions of knife crime which
                                                      affect women and girls in the context
                                                      of abuse and violence within the
                                                      home and interpersonal relationships.
                                                      The Mayor’s Violence Against Women
                                                      and Girls (VAWG) Strategy will address
                                                      acts of violence and harm perpetrated
                                                      in the context of domestic abuse and
                                                      other forms of VAWG which may involve
                                                      knife crime.

                                                      In December 2016, the Femicide Census
                                                      Report, published by Women’s Aid
                                                      analysed trends in women killed though
                                                      intimate partner violence over seven
                                                      years. The findings demonstrated that
                                                      women who experience domestic abuse
                                                      are at a significantly higher risk to knife
                                                      crime and, sadly, often within their own
                                                      homes. 8

                                                      We know that Domestic Abuse is vastly
                                                      under reported. Estimates based on
                                                      those interviewed in the Crime Survey
8. https://www.womensaid.org.uk/what-we-do/
campaigning-and-influencing/femicide-census/
                                                      for England and Wales during the year
                                                      ending March 2015 showed that around
9. https://www.ons.gov.uk/                            4 in 5 victims (79%) of partner abuse did
peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/
                                                      not report the abuse to the police. 9 This
bulletins/domesticabuseinenglandandwales/
yearendingmarch2016
                                                      implies that there are many unreported
                                                      knife crime incidents happening within
10. Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021                   the home.
17

In order to effectively bring perpetrators     MOPAC and NHSE, along with partners,
of domestic abuse related knife crime to       are using the findings from the
justice, there needs to be an adequate         consultation for this Strategy and the
risk-assessment process that records           Needs Assessment to explore future
the use of knives/sharp weapons in a           commissioning of services to support
domestic violence incident and ensures         victims of CSE.
there are significant consequences for
such action. MOPAC will work with the          Delivery against these priority areas will
Crown Prosecution Service and the              therefore sit outside of this strategic
judiciary to ensure that the severity of       Knife Crime Strategy, which is targeted
threats of violence (typically with a knife)   towards preventing and reducing knife
is taken into account when prosecuting         crime affecting young Londoners.
perpetrators of domestic abuse, or when
considering criminal and civil court           Knife crime and the
orders or restraining orders.                  Late Night Economy

Knife crime and                                The night time economy is a key driver of
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)                economic and cultural regeneration and
                                               a magnet for domestic and international
MOPAC and NHS England (London)                 visitors. Recent research shows that the
commissioned a Needs Assessment                night time economy contributes £26.3bn
of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation         to London’s annual GDP and supports 1
published in 2016 which aimed to               in 8 jobs. 10 This figure is expected to rise
establish the level of CSE in London           to £28.3bn by 2029.
and the scale of the need for support
services. Whilst the Needs Assessment          Analysis of the locations of knife crime
did not identify the use of knives as a        shows some cross over with areas linked
major issue in relation to CSE, it was         to London’s night time economy, such
reported during the consultation for           as areas in central London. However,
this strategy that there are increasing        more work is needed to understand if
concerns with regards to the link              these are directly linked or that this is
between sexual violence committed              a key driver of knife offending. Through
by and against young people and                further analysis we are seeking to gain
the increased carrying and use of              a greater understanding of any impact
knives, putting young women at even            knife crime has in areas related to the
greater risk.                                  night time economy.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
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What do Londoners think about                       In line with the findings of our research
knife crime?                                        and consultation, this Strategy focuses
                                                    tackling non-domestic, high harm
Londoners are highly unlikely to be                 knife crime which is perpetrated
victims of knife crime, but knife crime             against young people, under the age
affects us all, our sense of community              of 25, targeting resources to our most
and our feelings of safety on our streets.          vulnerable locations and Londoners; to
Findings from the MOPAC Public Attitude             our geographical locations most at risk
Survey (FY 16/17) indicate that 19.7%               of being affected by knife crime and to
of Londoners perceive knife crime to be             those communities and Londoners most
a problem in their local area. Within this          likely to be directly involved or impacted
there is borough variation – Waltham                by knife crime.
Forest has the highest perceived
concern (34.9% view as a problem), while            We also recognise that other weapons
Bromley has the lowest (4.8% view as a              are used to cause harm. Firearms,
problem) 11. Younger respondents (under             bottles, and even acid can be used as
25) are most likely to feel that knife crime        a weapon, but we are also mindful that
is a problem in their area, while those             the volume of harm caused by knives
over 65 are least likely to feel it is a            in London is significant and so must be
problem.                                            targeted and addressed. We will keep
                                                    this under review however, and should
                                                    it be necessary add to the delivery plan
                                                    for the strategy to incorporate other
                                                    weapons. This strategy aims to prevent
                                                    violence overall – no matter what the
                                                    weapon of choice might be.

                                               11. The MOPAC Public Attitude Survey is a large scale representative
                                                      survey of London, interviewing 12,800 Londoners per annum.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
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Developing and delivering this Strategy
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

The challenges in delivering this strategy            The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime,
cannot be overstated and even with all                supported by MOPAC, will continue
the powers of the Mayor and the police,               to provide robust scrutiny of the MPS
knife crime will not reduce without all               responses to knife crime, driving
partners and communities in London                    forward performance and holding the
pulling together to make changes and                  Commissioner to account through her
improvements. Arresting, sentencing,                  regular oversight meetings with the MPS.
and even rehabilitating offenders will
not stop knives being accessible on the               Strategic risks of both MOPAC and the
streets and nor will it stop young people             MPS receive scrutiny and challenge from
making the choice to carry and knife                  the independent MOPAC/MPS Audit
for the first time. For long term change              Panel. The Audit Panel is responsible for
we need parents and families, schools                 enhancing public trust and confidence in
and youth groups, and communities                     MOPAC and the MPS.
to come together to discourage and
prevent knife carrying, as well as the                Convening
media, businesses and other influencers
to do their part to make spaces where                 Partnership is central to the delivery of
young people spend their time – online,               this strategy – no one organisation has
at school, town centres, outdoors and at              the ability to solve the problem of knife
home – safe.                                          crime alone. The Mayor has a unique
                                                      convening power in London. Agencies in
Oversight                                             the criminal justice sector and beyond
                                                      look to the Mayor to provide leadership
The Mayor is responsible for agreeing                 and to bring organisations together to
the Police and Crime Plan for London,                 strengthen partnerships. In tackling knife
agreeing the MPS budget and overseeing                crime, we are using this power to bring
the performance of the MPS. He                        together all of our partners
delegates most of these powers to the
Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, who              We convene partners at the London
is supported in her work by the Mayor’s               Crime Reduction Board to drive joint
Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).                working with the most senior officers
23

from across the Criminal Justice Service
and to influence key strategy decisions.
Where we need to, we will challenge
partners, advocate and call for action on
                                            A multi-agency
priority issues to make sure we get the
best services for Londoners.
                                            partnership
This Strategy has been developed
                                            approach
in close co-operation with the MPS,         Recognising that there was
partner agencies and communities.           little support available for young
We’ve consulted and surveyed hundreds       victims of crime, The Lewisham
of young people, professionals, and         Young Victims’ Multi-Agency Risk
community partners to inform the            Assessment Conference (Youth
commitments. We have had a particular       MARAC) was established in May
focus on ensuring the strategy is           2009 to increase young people’s
informed by the ‘youth voice’, and as       confidence and trust in key
such we hosted specific events to           agencies. Facilitating multi-agency
target young people, including a youth      information sharing fora and action
roundtable event, workshops with            planning to protect young
young offenders in HMP Isis prison, and     people at risk of harm, the project
those on community orders under the         presents a pioneering approach
supervision of youth offending teams, in    to supporting and protecting young
addition to a Big Talk event with young     victims of crime.
people. We’ve surveyed 400 young
people in the areas most affected by        This work has been developed
knife crime in London and also used the     further and Lewisham now operates
findings from over 700 16-24 year olds      both a Serious Youth Crime
who were surveyed in the Talk London        Prevention Panel (SYCPP) and a
survey in the development of the Police     Missing Exploited and Trafficked
and Crime Plan.                             (MET) process.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

Participants in the consultation include:             Leap Confronting Conflict, Redthread,
                                                      St. Giles Trust, Catch 22, LVSC, Box Up
The MPS, The Crown Prosecution                        Crime, the SOLA Foundation, the Prince’s
Service, HM Prisons and Probation                     Trust, Hyde Housing, Spark 2 Life, Hoxton
Service, HM Courts and Tribunals                      Hall, Misunderstood, Lewisham Council,
Service, the London Community                         Transport for London, Southwark
Rehabilitation Company, London                        Council, Camden Council, Shout
Councils, the Home Office, the Ministry               Out UK, Kiyan Prince Foundation,
of Justice, NHS England, the London Fire              Ofsted, Ben Kinsella Trust, ChildLine,
Brigade, Victim Support, London Heads                 Word 4 Weapons, Josh Hanson Trust,
of Community Safety, Trading Standards,               MAC UK, Parent Voice, Evolve Housing,
the Youth Justice Board, London Head                  Fight for Peace, The Flavasum Trust,
teachers, Vicky Foxcroft MP, Ofsted, the              Rise Empowerment, Cherry Tree
London Assembly, the London Stop and                  Foundation, Working Chance, Gangs
Search Community Network, Stopwatch,                  Line, Mother, Jags Foundation, Anti Knife
Safer Neighbourhood Boards, City Safe                 UK, Inspired Futures, Lambeth Council,
Havens, New Beginnings, Ganglines,                    Edmonton County School.
Chance UK, Growing Against Violence,
London Youth, the Godwin Lawson                       Inclusion and involvement are at the
Foundation, Groundwork, St Matthew’s                  heart of our approach to our work,
Project Brixton, Hackney Quest,                       and we will continue to engage with
Bankside Residents Forum, Football                    communities and stakeholders, building
Beyond Borders, Coin Street Community                 relationships and working together to rid
Builders, the Crib, Barnardos, Leaders                our city of knife crime.
in Community, Rugby Portobello Trust,
the Safer London Foundation, the Oasis
Trust, Gang Conflict Mediation, Young
Lambeth, Gascoyne and Morningside
Youth Clubs, the Damilola Taylor
Foundation, South Central Youth, Epic
Learning, Edukit, Educational Excellence,
25

Delivery                                     This new London Crime Prevention
                                             Fund settlement is awarded according
MOPAC commissions a range of services,       to the greatest need across London’s
and provides funding and support to          Boroughs, with a new emphasis on
a wide range of crime reduction and          ensuring every Londoner has the
community safety projects in London.         access to the services they need to
                                             help support them and keep them safe,
For the first time, the Mayor’s funding      in line with the principles of the Police
for victims’ services across the capital,    and Crime Plan. Furthermore, some
previously provided on an annual basis,      funds will be redirected to support
has been allocated for three years           joint commissioning of services across
to provide longer-term support. The          Boroughs, helping to facilitate the
investment of £47 million over the           provision of specialist services that
Police and Crime Plan period will help       need a greater economy of scale than
improve current work and commission          can be provided by one Borough alone.
new services, including developing a         Local Authorities are core partners in
collaborative ‘one-service’ approach         the development of this new funding
rather than the current system which         pot, which accounts for 30 per cent of
sees a victim or witness dealing with a      the LCPF budget from 2018/19 onwards.
confusing number of different agencies.      This Strategy is backed by a further
Within this funding, £2m has been            investment of £625k by the Mayor,
allocated to increase support for            taking the total spending by the Mayor’s
young victims of crime - including knife     Office for Policing and Crime on knife
crime - and their families. The change       and gang crime projects to more than
in funding delivery will allow flexibility   £7m per year.
for MOPAC to respond to changing
demands and deliver the Mayor’s              Across all our commissioning for this
commitments to do more in areas              Strategy, we will take a trauma-informed
including restorative justice.               and culturally competent approach,
                                             and we will be ensuring that service
Through the London Crime Prevention          users and young people are engaged.
Fund, the Mayor has committed £72m           Importantly, we will continue our grip
over the Police and Crime Plan period        on ensuring we secure genuine value
to support projects across London            for money. We want to be assured that
dedicated to preventing crime, including     the taxes paid by Londoners are being
£5m spent on projects tackling youth         used as efficiently as possible. We
crime, gang crime, and knife crime.          will continue to make this happen with
                                             rigorous funding application processes
                                             and robust contract management.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
27

Taking action

01 .   TARG E T IN G L AW BR E A K E RS

02 .   O F F E R IN G WAYS O UT O F CRI M E

03 .   KE E P IN G DE A DLY W E A PONS O FF OU R STRE E T S

04 .   P ROT E CT IN G A N D E DUCATI NG YOU NG PEO PLE

05 .   STA N DIN G W IT H C O M M U NI TI E S, NE I G HB OU RHOODS
       AND FA M IL IE S AG A IN ST K NI FE CRI M E

06 .   SU P PO RT IN G V ICT IM S OF K NI FE CRI M E
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

“Our fight against
knife crime is ingrained
in our neighbourhood
policing and runs
through everything we
do. From our diversion
schemes, and gang
enforcement,
to our protection
of vulnerable people
and our partnership
with schools.“
Cressida Dick,
Commissioner of the
Metropolitan Police Service
29

TARGE T I NG L AW BR E A K E R S :            The Deputy Mayor for Policing and
POLICING                                      Crime, supported by MOPAC, will
                                              continue to provide robust scrutiny
As we have seen with the recent               of the MPS responses to knife crime,
tragic events in London, the demand           driving forward performance and holding
for an efficient, dynamic and responsive      the Commissioner to account, as well as
police service in the capital has never       bringing together the partnerships that
been greater, and community policing          are needed to support the police.
is the foundation of all our efforts to
protect our city. There is no substitute      Operational activity
for visible officers out on the beat in
neighbourhoods. They are the eyes             In the Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021,
and ears of policing – helping to detect      we set out the key issues that cause the
and prevent crime, and build trust            greatest harm in our society – including
and confidence.                               youth violence and knife crime - as
                                              mandatory priorities to go alongside
Vital to our mission of making London         the locally agreed priorities that local
a safer city for all, is ensuring that        police and councils are now working
the Metropolitan Police Service has           towards in each Borough. Going further,
the funding it needs. As a result of          every Borough is now developing a local
government funding reductions, the MPS        Knife Crime Strategy, led by the MPS
has made £600m in savings since 2010,         and involving partner organisations. This
and has a further £400m to save over the      ensures that pressure on the possession
next four years. This will be extremely       and use of knives is felt across the
challenging. The Mayor and MOPAC              city, whilst retaining the local flexibility
continue to lobby the Government for          needed by the MPS and local authorities
the funding the Metropolitan Police           to make the right decisions for their area.
Service needs to keep our growing,
global city safe.                             Operation Sceptre, the MPS’ intensive
                                              response to knife crime and violence,
Effective policing plays a critical role      is increasing in frequency, from
in the partnership response to tackling       bimonthly to monthly. Sceptre brings
knife crime, and the Commissioner             together a wide range of resources
has signalled her commitment that a           to target priority areas with activities
determined effort to tackle knife and gun     including weapons sweeps, targeted
violence will be the hallmark of her term     stop and search of known prolific knife
in office. She has the full support of this   carriers, test purchasing and plain-
Mayoralty in seeking to make our              clothes policing operations.
streets safer.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

Sceptre makes a difference - in May                   In Brent for example, this will provide
2017 Operation Sceptre involved in                    an additional six officers in 2017-18
excess of 1,800 such activities and                   focused on knife crime, gang and youth
seized 380 knives, 17 firearms and 75                 related violence and diversion, delivering
offensive weapons. The MPS made                       the Safer Brent priorities. In other
500 arrests in that week including 112                London boroughs, where s92 officers
knife related arrests, of whom 33 were                have been funded for other purposes,
Habitual Knife Carriers.                              MOPAC will be flexible and responsive
                                                      to requests from local authorities to use
Supporting the work of Sceptre, the                   these to tackle knife crime locally.
MPS is also deploying 80 officers,
both in uniform and plain clothing, into              Neighbourhood Policing
high knife crime borough hot spots,
including ‘super recognisers’ to aid in the           The Police and Crime Plan sets out
identification of key offenders.                      our ambition to restore neighbourhood
                                                      policing and putting Dedicated Ward
The MPS is working with a range of                    Officers (DWOs) and PCSOs – who know
agencies to target activity around the                and are known to the communities they
non-licensed venues that are hotspots                 serve – back at the heart of policing in
for knife crime or at risk of being so.               London. As the Mayor has set out in
This will focus officers on high-harm                 the Police and Crime Plan, there will
wards with evening patrols in ‘hot spot’              be one PCSO and two Police Officers
areas, but also tackle ‘problem venues’               dedicated to every one of the 629 wards
with law enforcement on health and                    in London – this commitment has already
safety, trading standards, licensing                  been met in terms of the PCSOs, whilst
planning enforcement, fire safety and                 the vast majority of the Police Officers
anti-social behaviour.                                are also in post.

In addition, the MPS will work with                   We will work with the MPS to deliver a
councils, Business Improvement Districts              policing service that is better equipped
and Safer Neighbourhood partnerships                  to deal with knife crime locally, across
to reduce alcohol and drug-related crime              the city and online, strengthening
in locally identified areas, for example by           neighbourhood policing, giving
using ‘section 92’ officers in MetPatrol              Boroughs a say in local policing and
Plus schemes. Section 92 officers are                 crime priorities, and transforming the
additional police constables who are                  way the organisation works to ensure it
funded by local authorities in a ‘buy-one-            is equipped to deal with 21st-century
get-one-free’ agreement with the MPS.                 policing needs.
31

Stop and Search

We support the targeted, intelligence-
led use of stop and search in the fight
against rising levels of knife crime in
                                                 Stop and search –
London. Stop and search is a vital tool for
our police, and it can save lives. Findings
                                                 the statistics
from MOPAC’s Public Attitude Survey              Over 31 per cent of all stops and
indicate that the majority of Londoners          searches carried out by the MPS
also support the use of Stop and Search          result in a positive outcome, up
(74% of Londoners agree with the use             from 13 per cent in 2012 – showing
of Stop and Search) – although within            that officers are making better
this younger groups are less positive            use of intelligence to target their
and the quality of the encounter is              stops more effectively. A positive
critical. In a survey commissioned for           outcome for Stop and Search is
this strategy, 12 58% of young people and        anything other than NFA (no further
young adults agreed that increased stop          action). Illegal objects are found in
and search would reduce knife crime,             27 per cent of searches, and over
whilst 28% disagreed.                            3,000 arrests are made for weapons
                                                 each year from stop and search
However, it is an intrusive tactic, and          alone.
striking a balance between keeping
people safe and maintaining the trust            The Met publishes monthly data
and confidence our communities                   on stop and search which the
requires constant review and careful             Community Monitoring Network
consideration. Misused, it can lead to           and local Community Monitoring
increased community tensions and                 Groups can review such as volumes,
mistrust of the police, undermining              arrest rates, proportionality and
attempts to encourage communities to             complaints. The MPS have also
come forward and report crimes.                  introduced a Stops Dashboard
                                                 which provides more localised
It is important that MPS officers feel           and detailed reports for
confident to use their judgement and             community scrutiny.
exercise their powers to stop and
search where they feel it necessary. We
want officers to feel that they have the
knowledge and training to help them to
                                              12. Survey conducted in Croydon, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets and
                                              Southwark, n= 413
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
33

make the right decisions about when         We will continue to consult and engage
to carry out a stop and how to do it.       with communities to understand their
Intelligence-led use of these powers        views on the use of stop and search.
means that, at times and places of          Consistent local oversight of stop
higher concern, where public safety is at   and searches is provided through the
increased risk, the number of stops and     Community Monitoring Network (CMN),
section 60 orders may go up. At times       the MOPAC forum that draws together
of lower concern, where intelligence        the local stop and search Community
indicates a reduced level of risk, the      Monitoring Groups (CMGs) from each
number may go down. We will support         London Borough. The CMGs are made up
the MPS in rolling out judgement training   of independent volunteers who scrutinise
for officers, enabling them to experience   and hold the police to account on the
and practice their decision-making in       use of stop and search powers in their
a range of different scenarios. We will     areas. To support the accountability and
also work with our communities and          transparency into the use of stop and
police colleagues to review the use and     search and section 60 powers, the MPS
authorisation of section 60, allowing       now publish this activity on a publically
officers to be more responsive in the       accessible dashboard on a Borough by
aftermath of a critical incident.           Borough basis.

Balancing that support for greater
professional judgement is greater            Q
accountability. Body-worn video, which       WH AT ’ S SECTION 60?
will be rolled out across the MPS by the
end of 2017, provides a new level of         Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and
accountability and transparency for all      Public Order Act 1994 allows a police
parties involved in a stop and search,       officer to stop and search a person
and is already demonstrating real value,     without suspicion in an area which
reducing complaints, providing better        has been authorised by a senior officer
evidence for court cases and supporting      of Commander rank. This power
officer training.                            can only be authorised where there
                                             is a reasonably held belief that serious
                                             violence will take place. Between June
                                             2016 and May 2017, 442 searches
                                             were conducted by the MPS under
                                             Section 60 powers.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

                                                      We have contributed to the current
                                                      consultation being undertaken by the
   Young people and                                   National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC)
                                                      on out of court disposals, asking that
   police training                                    when a stop and search has been
                                                      executed and when the individual has
   good practice –                                    been found to be in possession of a
                                                      knife, police cautions are no longer
   Hackney Stop and                                   considered to be a viable option;
                                                      ensuring that tough criminal sanctions
   Search group                                       are taken against serious offenders, and
                                                      only where appropriate, which will be in
   In Hackney, a Stop and Search                      very limited circumstances - making use
   group for young people holds the                   instead of conditional cautions to ensure
   Met to account about stop and                      that some rehabilitative or restorative
   search practice in Hackney. The                    intervention takes place where it may
   young people in the group have                     prevent a young person from going on
   undertaken four days training to                   to more serious offending.
   support their work, and used this to
   produce a DVD called ‘Search Me’                   Gangs and knife crime
   which is used to help train officers
   and members of the community in
                                                      As committed in the Mayor’s Police
   stop and search good practice.
                                                      and Crime Plan, we are reviewing the
   The trained young people are also                  MPS approach to gang related crime,
   tasked with planning community                     including reviewing the Gangs Matrix,
   events called “Build Up” which                     which identifies the most violent gang
   is aimed at improving dialogue                     members in London and supports the
   between young people and the                       MPS to tackle gang crime, gun crime
   police. Events have included                       and knife crime in London. We are also
   football matches, role play and                    working with the MPS Trident and Area
   sports days with local officers.                   Crime Command and other partner
   can review such as volumes,                        agencies to strengthen the identification
                                                      of young people who are at risk of
                                                      serious violence, whether perpetrators
                                                      or victims. It is intended that this work
                                                      will also enable the MPS to target
                                                      enforcement activity more effectively.
35

The Trident and Area Crime Command          Operation Teal is the MPS response to
works to tackle gang crime in London        serious gang, gun and knife violence,
through enforcement, suppression,           and is now a permanent part of Trident.
proactive policing and working with         The Met Control Centre now has a Teal
partners to prevent offending and           representative permanently in place to
build safer communities. Their work         monitor intelligence and incidents in live
covers the investigation of all non-fatal   time and co-ordinate and task police
shootings and other serious crimes          assets in response.
where the victim or suspect is on the
Gangs Matrix and the crime is believed      Criminal exploitation and knife carrying
to be associated with a gang. Trident
coordinates action to reduce gang           The criminal exploitation and violence
crime in target boroughs through the        that is part of ‘County Lines’ is
Trident Central Gangs Unit, and tackles     highlighted within the Police and
the most harmful and prolific Organised     Crime Plan 2017-21. This includes
Criminal Networks through the London        children and young people coerced
Crime Squad.                                into carrying knives and other criminal
                                            activities on behalf of the gang. As part
Their work is also preventative: the        of our work, MOPAC will be looking
Trident Community Engagement team           to develop, in partnership with key
works in partnership to safeguard young     delivery agencies inside and outside
people from being drawn into gang           of London, a comprehensive approach
crime, visiting schools and liaising with   aimed at reducing the harm to vulnerable
dedicated schools officers, offering        individuals, tackling the supply and
support for those wishing to exit from      distribution of drugs and ensuring that
gangs, or delivering conflict resolution    those responsible for harm face the
programmes. We will strengthen this         consequences of their actions, including
work through a project underway to          coming face to face with the harm they
identify and address issues of particular   have caused through a restorative
vulnerability amongst young Londoners,      justice process. We will support the
including ongoing operational work on       MPS to undertake police operations in
‘County Lines’ drug dealing (the practice   partnership with county forces, which
of gangs from large metropolitan areas      both enforce against the gangs and
developing drug markets in surrounding      the organisers and aim to utilise
towns and counties, in which children,      legislation to enforce against gangs
women or vulnerable people are              and organised criminal networks that
exploited by criminals to deliver drugs     profit from this practice.
to and from other areas).
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
37

TARGE T I NG L AW BR E A K E R S :          The Victim Personal Statement (VPS)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE                            gives victims a voice in the criminal
                                            justice process by. The VPS is a written
The whole Criminal Justice Service has      or oral statement presented to the court
a vital role to play in the fight against   at the time of sentencing created as an
knife crime – through tough community       opportunity for the judge to understand
sentencing, tough punishment for            how a crime has affected the victim and
persistent offenders and rehabilitation.    their families. It is unacceptable that
                                            sentencing decisions are being made
We recognise that many young people         without all the possible information
carry knives out of fear. But there are     available, and we will work with courts
also those who carry knives with the        and probation services to push for a
aim of committing crime; to harm and        commitment to ensure that Pre-Sentence
intimidate others, to protect drug          Reports (PSR’s) and Victim Personal
markets, to commit robbery or make          Statements (VPS’s) are completed for
threats, even to murder. Our message        at least 90% of knife related offences,
to our communities must be clear and        helping to ensure that offenders receive
consistent – whatever the reason,           sentences and requirements which
carrying a knife in London will not be      are better targeted at addressing their
tolerated and when caught, there will       offending behavior, sentences which are
never be just ‘a slap on the wrist’.        in line with sentencing guidelines and
                                            that the victim’s voice has been heard.
Supporting better
sentencing decisions                        This supports the Sentencing Council’s
                                            view that sentencing of youths and
Pre-Sentence Reports (PSR) provide          young adults should be much more
critical information that helps make        focused on the individual offender
sure that offenders are sentenced           than when sentencing adults; and that
appropriately, yet we are seeing knife      all offender-specific factors are
related offences being sentenced            considered before determining the most
without a PSR. Equally, we are seeing       appropriate sentence, as well as better
offences being sentenced without a          protecting communities.
Victim Personal Statement (VPS).
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

Providing better sentencing options                   police to use this information for crime
                                                      mapping, providing information on an
Despite the significance of the knife                 offender’s location at a specific date and
crime challenge in London, none of                    time to identify whether they could have
the community sentencing options                      been at the scene of a crime. In addition
available to courts are currently targeted            to a review of available enforcement
specifically towards those who carry                  measures and greater use of Electronic
knives or other weapons. This must                    Monitoring, we want to build on this
be addressed, and we will work with                   innovative pilot and test the use of
the London Community Rehabilitation                   GPS tagging technology for offenders
Company (CRC), National Probation                     who are released on licence following
Service (NPS), courts and others to                   a custodial sentence for a knife related
develop a new, targeted community                     offence and for knife related community
sentence requirement for those                        orders, lobbying for secondary
convicted of knife possession, which can              legislation if required.
be used on top of jail time and traditional
sentencing where appropriate.                         The overarching ambition of this strategy
                                                      is for young Londoners to feel safer,
MOPAC recently launched a GPS                         and to protect those who are vulnerable
tagging pilot which uses satellite                    and in order to do this we have to
tagging technology to monitor the                     ensure that those who break the law
capital’s most prolific offenders, the first          receive sentences in accordance with
scheme of its kind in the UK. The pilot               the severity and impact of their crimes.
means that Magistrates in eight London                In light of feedback we have received
boroughs can now order the wearing                    from young people about the lack of
of GPS tags as part of a community                    awareness of the consequences of knife
or suspended sentence. This is not                    crime; we have asked the Sentencing
constant surveillance - the tags gather               Council to also consider the role that
data to monitor an offender’s compliance              they could play in raising awareness
with their court order or bail conditions,            amongst young people regarding the
alerting probation officers if these                  consequences of knife crime and what
are breached. This includes entering                  further consultation could take place
an exclusion zone or failing to attend                with young people regarding sentencing
mandated appointments. For the first                  guidelines in the future.
time, the use of GPS tags will enable the
39

Rehabilitation                                Tough consequences for
                                              persistent offenders
Effective rehabilitation of offenders by
the Criminal Justice Service must also        We support Section 28 of and Schedule
make a significant contribution to crime      5 to the Criminal Justice and Courts Act
reduction. By stopping repeat offending       2015, which created a rule commonly
will we protect young people and reduce       known as ‘two strikes and you’re out’,
knife crime. There is currently very          which is a minimum custodial sentence
limited provision for offenders to address    for those aged 16 and over who are
weapon use for both adults and young          convicted of a second or subsequent
people within the custodial estate and in     offence of possession of a knife or
the community.                                offensive weapon. The minimum
                                              custodial sentence for 16 and 17 year
Through the consultation for this             olds is at least a four month detention
strategy it is clear that there is no clear   and training order and for adults over
picture of how many young people under        the age of 18, a mandatory minimum
the supervision of youth offending            sentence of 6 months.
services in London are there as a result
of an offence involving a weapon, and         Nine in ten repeat knife crime offenders
who might be attending the Knife Crime        were adults of which over half received
Prevention Programme which has been           an immediate custodial sentence, 96%
adapted by Youth Offending Teams              of those adult offenders who received
(YOT) across the capital and is delivered     an immediate custodial sentence had
inconsistently across different areas.        pleaded guilty and received an average
Nor is it clear what the impact of this       sentence length of 7 months; this was
programme is on young people and their        almost 12 months for those pleading
offending. This is an unacceptable gap in     not guilty. Where repeat offenders were
our response to young offenders and we        aged 16 or 17, 45% of these received a
will press the Youth Justice Board (YJB)      community sentence and 47% received
to get a clear picture.                       an immediate custodial sentence with an
                                              average sentence length of 6 months.
We will also work with partners to explore
better use of restorative justice and
mediation where appropriate, working
with families and communities to address
knife crime and make amends.
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y

Youths are far less likely to receive an                      We are targeting lawbreakers by:
immediate custodial sentence (11%
compared to 37% for adults) Over half of                      • Ensuring that all Borough Commanders
youths received community sentences                             work with their Community Safety
instead, cautions were also used more                           Partnerships (CSPs) to have in place
frequently for youths than adults.The                           local knife crime plans that will drive
reoffending rates for these community                           activity using Borough resources
sentences and cautions are high and                             and to ensure that focused work is
need to be improved. For example, the                           undertaken with communities and
                                                                partnerships to ensure a coordinated
reoffending rate for people given court
                                                                response.
orders in London is 31 per cent, and the
reoffending rate for those given fines                        • Supporting the police in using all
32%. The proven reoffending rate for                            of their powers and increasing the
juveniles for possession of offensive                           frequency of Operation Sceptre
weapons in London was 36%, compared                             weeks of action, providing concerted
to a rate of 33% for all of England and                         enforcement activity in knife crime
Wales. 13 We will use our oversight role                        hot spots, using tactics including
to hold the Criminal Justice Service                            visible patrolling; plain clothes officers;
to account for adhering to sentencing                           intelligence-led stop and search;
guidelines around knife possession and                          and targeting known prolific knife
                                                                offenders;
offending, ensuring progress, and we
will provide greater transparency and                         • Establishing a specialist MPS team of
accountability by publishing data on                            80 officers, plain clothes and uniform,
knife crime and sentencing outcomes for                         to carry out targeted crime prevention
knife crime.                                                    and enforcement in knife crime hot
                                                                spots;

                                                              • Reviewing the MPS Gangs Matrix,
                                                                which identifies the most violent gang
                                                                members in London, and strengthen
                                                                the identification of young people
                                                                who are involved in serious violence,
                                                                whether perpetrators or victims;

13. Ministry of Justice – Proven reoffending overview data    • Continuing to support the delivery
tool (July 14 – June 15) www.gov.uk/governement/statistics/     of training for police officers and the
proven-reoffending-statistics-july-2014-to-june-2015
                                                                use of intelligence-led use of stop
41

  and search which is responsive to the      attending the Knife Crime Prevention
  challenges on our streets, keeping         Programme, to establish how effective
  people safe whilst also maintaining        this programme is at addressing
  the trust and confidence of our            young people’s use of knives and
  communities;                               if necessary, work with partners to
                                             replace it with something better.
• Strengthening the work of the MPS
  Trident and Area Crime Command           • Working with the MPS to ensure
  to identify and address issues of          that police cautions are no longer
  particular vulnerability amongst young     considered to be a viable option for
  Londoners, including work on ‘County       knife possession offences. To support
  Lines’ drug dealing, where vulnerable      this, we will review the available
  people are exploited by criminals to       enforcement measures.
  deliver drugs to and from other areas;
                                           • Pushing for a commitment by all
• Working with the London Community          relevant Criminal Justice Service
  Rehabilitation Company (CRC), National     partners to ensure that on the day
  Probation Service (NPS), Youth Justice     Pre-Sentence Reports (PSR’s) are
  Board (YJB), Youth Offending Services      completed for at least 90% of knife
  (YOS), courts and others to develop        related offences which go through
  a new, targeted community sentence         our courts;
  requirement for those convicted of
                                           • Pushing for a commitment by all
  knife possession which offer support
                                             relevant Criminal Justice Service
  to the offender to exit offending
                                             partners to ensure that Victim Personal
  behaviour.
                                             Statements (VPS) are included for at
• Making more use of electronic              least 90% of knife related offences
  monitoring (where appropriate) and         which go through the courts;
  lobbying for GPS technology to be
                                           • Working with the Sentencing Council
  used on offenders serving community
                                             and National Police Chiefs Council to
  sentences, or released on license
                                             ensure appropriate sentences and
  following a knife related offence;
                                             sentence guidance for knife crime
• Working with the Youth Justice             offences
  Board to establish how many young
                                           • Publishing data on the commission and
  people under the supervision of
                                             sentencing of knife crime offences.
  youth offending services in London
  are there as a result of an offence
  involving a weapon, and who might be
T H E LO N D O N K N I F E C R I M E S T R AT E G Y
43

O F F E RI NG WAYS O UT O F C R IM E          Working with prisons is a new area of
                                              focus when responding specifically to
There is no excuse for criminality,           knife related offending. Whilst prisons
but we know that the factors that             play an important role in removing
drive young people into violence are          dangerous offenders from communities,
often complex and powerful. Many              we wanted to know if our stakeholders
offenders have been exposed to criminal       thought they could be doing more. At
behaviour throughout their lives, and         the Mayor’s Knife Crime Summit, 55% of
many have been victims of serious             the audience believed that prisons had
crime themselves. There are others            a key role in rehabilitating offenders of
who are coerced from an early age into        knife crime. Acting on this feedback, we
committing crime. Many perpetrators           will place a renewed focus on what more
have support needs around mental              can be done to rehabilitate offenders in
health, drugs and alcohol, education and      custody but also to look at what more
employability.                                can be done to tackle knife related
                                              offences within our secure estates.
Regardless of their circumstances and         Currently, Violence With Injury (VWI)
their past behaviour, carrying a knife        offences within our secure estates
or using a weapon is never a foregone         are on the increase, with the majority
conclusion – and nor is it acceptable - for   of weapons in secure estates being
any young Londoner.                           improvised bladed articles which have
                                              been produced by offenders for the sole
The MOPAC funded London Gang                  purpose of inflicting injury and protection
Exit (LGE) Service is helping to divert       and whilst creatively made, are more than
vulnerable young people out of serious        capable of causing a fatality.
offending, bringing together partner
agencies to provide a comprehensive           The Chrysalis project, funded by the
package of support around health,             National Offender Management Service
education, housing and employment.            (NOMS), the Youth Justice Board for
We will continue to fund this service and     England and Wales (YJB) and supported
will look to strengthen it further as a       by MPS policing contribution through
means of diverting at-risk young people       the Mayor’s Office for Policing and
out of gang crime. Early findings from        Crime, has been put in place to support
completed cases 14 indicate that 75% of       some of these challenges and has been
LGE clients engage in gang exit activity      running in HMP Isis since September
and reduce or cease involvement in            2013. Following the extension of the pilot
gangs and 68% of engage in activity to        in February 2016, Trident officers are
address offending behaviour and report        working in both HMP Isis and HMP & YOI
a reduction in offending.                     Feltham A & B.
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