Mayor must stop Met from sharing knife images
The Mayor said today, that he hopes that forthcoming research will ‘persuade the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)… to change their stance’ on showing knife images on police social media accounts, questioning from Caroline Russell revealed.
Sheffield Hallam University announced in October 2020 that they were conducting a study to explore the impact of knife crime images on young people.
The research follows the decision from South Yorkshire Police and Thames Valley Police, to avoid showing knife images, for ‘fear that they are making the public more, not less, worried about knife crime’. [1]
Caroline has now written to the Mayor asking him to use his influence as Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner for London, to get the MPS to pause their sharing of images of knives on social media. [2]
Caroline’s own recent research found that from July 2020 to August 2021 the MPS circulated more than 2,100 images of knives on Twitter.
Caroline Russell said:
“The Mayor says he wants to wait until research about the effect of knife images is released, but Assembly Members, young people, knife harm charities and academics have all been calling for this harmful practice to end.
“There are better ways to show the work that the Met are doing on reducing knife violence than sharing images of terrifying knives on social media.
“The Director of the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit agrees with me and told me she is keen to advocate on behalf of young people about the importance of not using knife imagery. [3]
“The harm is already clear. The Mayor must use his influence as Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner, to pause the sharing of images of knives on social media from MPS accounts until the research is published and a final decision can be made.”
Patrick Green, CEO of The Ben Kinsella Trust said:
“Recognising and reducing trauma in young people is a key component of a public heath approach to tackling violence.
“Whilst I am extremely pleased to see that the Metropolitan Police continue to take large quantities of knives off our streets, it is important that the success of these operations is not compromised by publishing images of weapons that are known to induce fear amongst young people.
“I urge the Met to adopt the use of images that illustrate the positive impact of their anti-knife crime operations.”
Young people such as Tyrell Davis-Douglin, a member of the Young Person’s Action Group at the London Violence Reduction Unit, said recently at the London Summit on tackling violence that photos of blades can prompt young people to consider "upgrading tools". [4]
Notes to editors
[1] Study launched to explore impact of knife crime images on young people, https://www.shu.ac.uk/news/all-articles/latest-news/study-launched-impact-knife-crime-images-young-people
[2] Caroline’s letter to the Mayor https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021_10_14_cr_knife_images_letter_to_the_mayor.pdf
[3] Police and Crime Committee, 07 October 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqx-Oq010So
[4] Tweet from Caroline Russell about the event https://twitter.com/CarolineRussell/status/1418612378044936198
University of Strathclyde and Scottish VRU pre-print study ‘Are images of seized knives an effective crime deterrent? A comparative thematic analysis of young people’s views within the Scottish context’ https://psyarxiv.com/ma6g2/
Caroline’s own recent research found that from July 2020 to August 2021 the MPS circulated more than 2,100 images of knives on Twitter which is made up of:
- 15 from the main Met account
- 16 from Firearms
- 82 from Roads Policing
- 229 from the Met Taskforce
- 612 from Met borough accounts
- and the ward team accounts shared 1,200 in total
View the image of the map here https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/knife_images_shared_by_mps_twitter_accounts_2020-21.pdf
Three leading charities in London working on crime prevention, Hope Collective, Ben Kinsella Trust and Dwaynamics, shared only two knife images between them in the same period. Hope Collective (0 knife images shared), Ben Kinsella Trust (1 background image of a teaching class) and Dwaynamics (1 knife in a tube from police ridealong.)
Greens in the London Assembly have repeatedly challenged the sharing of knife images by police, including in schools. Prior questions to the Mayor on this topic
https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2021/3562
https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2020/4320
https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2019/14222
https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2018/2477
Sian Berry challenged the Met Commissioner Cressida Dick in December 2017 about images of 'zombie' knives being used in presentations to primary schools by officers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbyfi2SJh_E
Caroline has also asked a written question to the Mayor this month about a recent knife crime intervention at a school where a display box of dangerous knives was on show. https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2021/3562