What you said about crime and safety

If you want to make London a safe place you should have a survey for everyone in London, asking their opinions on what they think of their community and city. This survey should happen once every few years. Everyone including children above the age of eight should have their say. Buses are still not that safe because sometimes the driver is scared of the passenger.
No name given, age 11

Have less police around and be more free. Make it safer and lower price to travel.
No name given, age 15

I think it crucial we have better road crossings, as children are dyeing every year just simply crossing the roads.
Sdf, no age given

I live on an estate, and there are many problems around there. Most of the time, the criminals leave you alone if they know you live in the estate, but we're always hearing about other people being the victims of theft, rape, or people being abused. What's even worse is that people don't seem so shocked to hear such stories anymore, because these incidents have occurred more and more regularly over the years.

The reason I think crime and bullying rates have gone up is because the world is getting tougher and harder to live in. Even though fewer criminals are actually put to death as punishment for their crimes, I believe that jail and more modern punishments can drive criminals to do more wrong things. For example, after someone has spent time in jail, they may feel anger or resentment which may lead to more law-breaking.

My theory is that therapy sessions for criminals would be an effective solution. Sometimes, when a person has done something wrong, and has been punished for it, they may need more reason than "because it's wrong" or "because it's the law" in order to learn from their mistake. If therapy sessions for criminals became compulsory, the law -breakers could perhaps meet people who have already learnt from their crimes - I think most criminals break the law because part of them feels alone. Meeting and taking advice from people who can relate to them might help. Maybe even meeting victims of similar crimes may help criminals to understand why the law is there. I believe that understanding is essential to changing for the better.
Siani, age 14, for the Young London Debate (November - December 2005)

How safe is London? Well after the London bombing it takes a lot of guts to get on the tube to central London. There are also a lot of articles on the newspaper on rape, drug dealing, bulling, vandalising public property, possession of illegal weapons, theft and internet frauds. Those points makes London unsafe. Other than them, London is a reliable capital with nice people.

Can you play out where you live? Well in most areas, yes! A few years back, my area wasn't what you would call reliable and quiet. There were groups of boys and girls taking drugs and vandalising public property. This situation got out of hand by the property owners, and we had to call the police to sort this problem out. After we did this, the police helped sort this problem, and they also got in contact with the anti-social behaviour group. It was only a matter of 1 week until all the problem was solved. Now my area is a quiet and a peaceful area where there isn't a problem in going outside and playing with my friends.

Is bullying or crime a problem in your area? No, not in my area anymore. But we should also keep our eyes open, seeing as there are a lot of bullying or crimes going on in other areas.

What do you think could be done to make London safer? Well, I think that there should be more people to join the police force, although the next one is harsh, but it might help to bring crime down. Well, I think that executing should be made legal again, but before executing, there should be sufficient amount of evidence, before proving the person is liable to be executed. I also think that no guns or illegal drugs should be sold in shops. This may help stop crime dramatically. I think that more youth clubs should be put up for youths. This should occupy them and keep them out of trouble.
Diana and Christina , 13 & 14, for the Young London Debate (November - December 2005)

Is London safe? Well London is safe in some areas and not all. Some young children and teens can play out in their area and some can't. I think this is because there is more crime, bullying, drug dealing in some areas but aren't in others.

I think my area is not safe to me and my parents for me to go out and play anytime. Mostly because of the crime and drug dealing.

The other issue I want to raise is that I think we should have more cameras and more policemen on patrol in some areas, for example in my area, to make it safer.

Thirdly I think to make unsafe areas safer the way you could do this is have policemen visiting the area at least 3 times day or more to check what is going on. I absolutely don't feel safe in my area because there are always people so many people surrounding around cars, smoking, drank, shouting and drug dealing. Specially doesn't feel safe when they stay out late until about 2.oclock in the morning some days or all night. It also doesn't feel safe after the bombings that went on in London earlier this year.
Balgid, age 13, for the Young London Debate (November - December 2005)

Where I live, there are no serious problems. Unfortunately I do know that there are problems around a few areas in London. Such as shoplifting in stores, people being stabbed, breaking in and robbing houses. My teacher also told me that the average policeman makes 6 arrests every year. These problems are quite serious and if action is not taken soon, it could get out of hand.

What we can do to make London a better place to live in? Firstly, I see no possible way to stop bulling unless we make it illegal. Secondly, if the policemen were a bit more trained and they patrol the areas where the criminals hang around, I am sure they could make more arrests. Also they could go undercover pretending to be a criminal. Finally, most CCTV cameras are black and white but if we had them in colour, we would be able to identify the suspects more easily.
Hassan & Zohaib, age 13, for the Young London Debate (November - December 2005)

Recently I've heard about how the government want to ban hoodies. Which I think is wrong. There is probably around 1 in 10 people who are criminals and use hoodies or other items of clothing to cover their identities. It isn't right and I believe that we should be against it being banned!
Fred, age 15

I feel the streets in London are safe to some extent. However I don't feel the public are doing much to create a safe environment for themselves, and I don't feel the public are aware enough about the dangers and threats in their society. A short while ago, a young man who went to my sixth form previously was stabbed, he then went to a local shop for help and they sent him away. This all happened across the road from a police station. This young man was about 19. Obviously I am not aware of all the exact details, but however knowing the basics of this case I feel that the public and the police need to create more awareness and demonstrate ethical practices to ensure that people are safer on the streets.
Sabba, age 17

I'm from South-West London and I would like to say that there needs to be more events on for students of all ages at weekends. I'm bored in my brain trying to think of things to do with friends and family within my price range. I don't know if you care but most students don't have a lot of money and would like to spend time out and about enjoying themselves in the place that they live and not having to worry that its going to cost an arm n a leg. All we ever hear now days is that young people are causing trouble but the main thing is if there was something or somewhere for us to go, numbers might just drop in crime and there would be less young people roaming the streets of London and making peoples lives a pain. I know what it feels like walking down the road and feeling scared but so do a lot of other people. Its time to wake up and pay attention to the new generation for if not there will be a lot of people that you are letting down. Don't think because there are so many bad young people that there are no good ones because your sadly mistaken and we would like a change and a chance for you to invest your money in the people of tomorrow!
Molly, age 16

Perhaps London, and in fact the whole country, should hold another one of those gun and knife amnesties to try and reduce the amount of weapons on the street. Also I feel that there should be more police on patrol. We have seen in cities like New York that this has been effective in reducing crime. Finally I feel that the police must get tougher on criminals and make punishments harsher.
Name and age not given

Nah London is not safe anymore and I hang around Bromley it aint safe anywhere u go nowadays it needs to be sorted out now before it gets out of hand.
Sarah, age 16

I am writing to you about the concern of bullying in schools well I think that you should have bully buddies that help you and solve your problems when you've been bullied I am suggesting this because many people have been scared to confront a teacher or carer because they think they will get in trouble so if you have bully buddies it will be better for children to confront a bully buddy who will solve that problem. It is a good idea because then a child will be happy going to school and have a good education instead of bunking of because there scared that a bully will bully them.
Laura, age not given

(In response to issue of Naming and Shaming)
I would not have agreed to it around a year ago as I feel that you do not have to put a young person on the spot, for them to realise the consequences of their behaviour. But now it as if some young people have not got respect for their community and who lives in it and society has got so much harder to live in for adults and young people. I think name and shame them so the society knows who is making are lives hell and it will make them think about who they are affecting.
No name or age given

I live in Greater London & have visited London many times. There is lots to do in the city & that's why it's so popular. I think that people should not be put off by the recent attacks on London, but encourage others to come into the city and live life as normal.
Jason, age 13

You should respect your environment to keep London safer.
Nicholas, age 11

I think that London needs more public bins because of the so much litter makin London look filthy.
No name given, age 15

'In London there are lots of children that go home by themselves and lots of them get mugged. I think that some special officers should patrol around secondary schools because most secondary pupils target little children and they mug them.'
Jaikishan, age 11

'Naming and shaming is the least people deserve for gun and knife crime. If a weapon isn't used it just means that the circumstances that they had brought it out for didn't lead to the weapon needing to be used. However, if they felt intimidated by someone, the weapon would have been used. The problem is, young people constantly want to prove themselves to their peers and kids around their area - it's no longer about looks but about strength and power, even with girls. I've just recently realised street rep is nothing and have completely stepped out of that circle, but only because I stepped into a new group of friends as I changed schools. The solution is to mix young people from different backgrounds. I came from a secondary school where most pupils were underprivileged and crime was high, and have now gone to a sixth form with middle class, upper class and lower class people and students' understanding of each other is so much higher.'
No name provided