Knife crime is rising in London. Pic: Public domain (Google)
Gang violence and knife crime in Croydon has reached an alarming high as EastLondonlines recently reported.
Just last Tuesday a teenage boy was rushed to hospital around 10:30pm after being stabbed in Wandle Road car park near Whitgift Street. Police arrived to find a 17-year-old with multiple knife wounds in the stairwell of the car park. The metropolitan police stated on Wednesday that he was in a ‘life-threatening’ condition and have not yet released any new information.
This incident took place near Innes yard, a recurring location for violence.
Wednesday evening in South Norwood High Street near Croydon, a boy in his mid-teens was stabbed after a fight broke out around 6pm. His condition is described as stable.
These are just a few of the most recent knife involved incidents in the area. The interactive map shows all reports for violence and sexual assaults in just the month of December last year in red and recent attacks in black. The data is the most current statistics on mapped Croydon violence and have been provided by the Metropolitan Police.
Surrey Street, central Croydon recorded the highest number of incidents at 27, followed by Innes Yard at 13 offences and Frith Road at 10. Importantly there are still over 300 incidents that have no mapped location largely due to the victims not knowing or disclosing the area of their attack.
Croydon has had a total of 1,026 knife incidents in total over 2016 and has even recorded the highest number of murders related to knife crime, with a total of sixth deaths.
Weapons sweep by ZD Crime Squad & POLSA yesterday at Drummond Road/Northend Croydon. SIX knives seized & off the streets #croydoncops
— Croydon MPS (@MPSCroydon) 22 February 2017
The borough has been named one of the worst five for knife crime across London, with the capital itself at a four-year high. Last year alone there was 21,365 knife crimes in London, which included gang violence, sexual assaults and stabbings. Statistics from the metropolitan police showed over 1,000 of these had serious injuries and 60 people had been stabbed to death.
Ann Oakes-Odger founded activist group and charity KnifeCrimes.Org in 2006. She started campaigning for gun and knife crime over the UK as a result of her own experience. She told EastLondonlines: “I started campaigning in 2005 after my son was fatally stabbed in the neck in a random attack at a cashpoint. I managed to change two laws including one in sentencing and the other one in carrying knives.”
Oakes-Odger has been responsible for raising the minimum age able to buy a knife from 16-18 and an increase in the sentence for ‘carrying a knife without good reason’ from two to four years. Her campaign and dedication has seen a review of Schedule 21 of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act. Subsequently a new tariff of 25 years was introduced in March 2010, meaning the minimum term for knife murder increased from 15 to 25 years.
She continued: “In the beginning in 2005, I wanted to engage with the Ministry of Justice and keep the focus on knife crime. But, it is all about educating and in schools it is very patchy. We need to make young people understand the consequences of a criminal record, prison, travel, jobs and even insurance.”
