Reducing violent crime
We'd like your views on the new Violence Reduction Unit and what Londoners can do to help prevent violence.
Together with the Met Police and specialists in health, youth services and local government, City Hall has announced plans to establish a new Violence Reduction Unit. It aims to tackle the causes of violent crime, such as poverty, mental ill-health and lack of opportunities. Alongside this, the Violent Crime Taskforce will continue its work to take knives and other weapons off the streets.
What do you think of the measures above? Do you think that it is important to bring together different services and involve communities when designing solutions to tackle violent crime? What can Londoners, families and communities do to help prevent violence?
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Log into your accountAbertillery
Community Member 3 years agoBetter training for young police officers who are quick to get out there batons in some cases unnecessary,
Show full commentBetter training for young police officers who are quick to get out there batons in some cases unnecessary,
Show less of commentrlzion
Community Member 3 years agoWe need less of them and more socialworkers, nurses, paramedics, doctors etc.
Show full commentWe need less of them and more socialworkers, nurses, paramedics, doctors etc.
Show less of commentRainD
Community Member 3 years agoI appreciate the person commenting below my comments for caring about victims but just want to say that we don't all need supported housing.
I found refuge added to my trauma. Coming from a long term very controlling environment, I need...
Show full commentI appreciate the person commenting below my comments for caring about victims but just want to say that we don't all need supported housing.
I found refuge added to my trauma. Coming from a long term very controlling environment, I need freedom and independence and my own control back. I have physical and mental injuries but very capable of maintaining a tenancy.
Just problem is it's impossible because private landlords don't take benefits (and rent usually more than benefits anyway) and councils don't let you even go on their list and if they don't turn you away completely, they put you far away usually out of London in years of often unsafe very isolating temporary.
Support is needed but not necessarily attached to the housing. Just access to advocate and support when needed or maybe weekly appointments be helpful.
Show less of commentRainD
Community Member 3 years agoNeeds to be consideration for and help and support for middle aged and older Londoners as well as young. Also for disabled. We still human beings, and as assisted suicide not an option in UK, we need help to be safe.
I'm a domestic...
Show full commentNeeds to be consideration for and help and support for middle aged and older Londoners as well as young. Also for disabled. We still human beings, and as assisted suicide not an option in UK, we need help to be safe.
I'm a domestic violence victim. I see no way out because alternative is being homeless. Support is very bad. Waiting lists (sometimes closed depending on your borough).
Also some only help if you experienced recent physical violence. Not only is that not understanding coercive control but also not understanding DV. My perpetrator seriously injured me then wasn't physical again for couple of years. It happens again but DV support places and councils don't seem to want to help if not very recent physical. Threats, either they don't care or don't believe me (even although have evidence of some).
Needs to be understanding of long term DV. Situation now with support services is more likely to get support if short term relationship with one incident of violence than very long term with serious violence and mental abuse and control because the physical sometimes long periods between the incidents.
Councils don't care. Housing, social services. They don't care. Some of the DV support services too. They tell you to just leave and don't care if you suffered physical and mental injuries so can't work and nowhere safe or legal takes benefits.
All a dream though because I don't believe this consultation will change anything. Partly because it needs to be national law. Example is often reasons why victims can't go to local services but not allowed help from other areas. Needs to be mutual agreements between areas to help out of area people when needed.
Have lost faith anything will get better. Feel very let down and don't ever want to trust ever again..
Show less of commentcoulddobetter
Community Member 3 years agoA touching post. The housing situation is a barrier to escaping DV especially if you have children. The impact of DV on individuals and children can possibly lead to MH/behavioural challenges, and a into crime from the impact of trauma on...
Show full commentA touching post. The housing situation is a barrier to escaping DV especially if you have children. The impact of DV on individuals and children can possibly lead to MH/behavioural challenges, and a into crime from the impact of trauma on the children. Accessible help and housing are key, and victims should not being ripped away from the local community and support networks that they live in unless you want to move away. I have heard comments, if its that bad you would go anywhere..... but how damaging is that and for me shows a complete lack of understanding and recognition of humans, connections to people, communities and places. The housing issue has haunted me all of my life, impacted on my family and children and still to this day, I am currently a 'victim' on a housing related issue whereby the process seeming supports the criminal and places the me at risk of homelessness and extreme stress and unable to see my family this Christmas. I have been fortunate to have worked all of my life BUT couldnt afford to live with my children, we are all separated in different 1 bedrooms. This society needs to show that a crimeless working life can enable people to live a civil life without family members having to sleep on floors in a 1 bed flat and that society and laws supports victims to the fullest and not criminals.
Show less of commentreindeer_77
Community Member 3 years agoI'm really sorry for what you've been through.
Shandi
Community Member 3 years agoFirst you need the joined up approach to help prevent young people getting into crime. That needs education employment mental health drug addiction services etc all working together. Then you need to support victims. Most people don't trust...
Show full commentFirst you need the joined up approach to help prevent young people getting into crime. That needs education employment mental health drug addiction services etc all working together. Then you need to support victims. Most people don't trust the police but they still need support so maybe next other ways of reporting crime and women who are victims of domestic violence need ways out so they aren't trapped. That means supported housing.
Show less of commentRainD
Community Member 3 years agoNeed safe affordable housing for victims of domestic violence. Women getting murdered because nowhere safe to live so can't leave abuse or return to it. Don't care about police. Not police's fault. No way will I ever report domestic...
Show full commentNeed safe affordable housing for victims of domestic violence. Women getting murdered because nowhere safe to live so can't leave abuse or return to it. Don't care about police. Not police's fault. No way will I ever report domestic violence to police because nowhere safe to live so can't leave. I'd rather be murdered than homeless.
Show less of commentWill1066
Community Member 3 years agoAction to stop people riding scooters on the pavements - start ticketing and enforcement. Knocking pedestrians down, bumping them, and generally intimidating by driving by needs to be reduced. The same kind of person who is left enabled to...
Show full commentAction to stop people riding scooters on the pavements - start ticketing and enforcement. Knocking pedestrians down, bumping them, and generally intimidating by driving by needs to be reduced. The same kind of person who is left enabled to recklessly 'own' the pavements is more often than not possibly also a person who will engage in more violent crime; meanwhile people are feeling less safe on pavements.
Show less of commentSita
Community Member 3 years agoMore need to be done about gangs ...drug dealers. anti social people..as they are still rife in my area....feel that i can't leave my home beacause of them...and not a safe area to be...
mozzarellonadibufala
Community Member 3 years agoTO STOP the pattern of permanent school-exclusion -->street-night violence --> crime --> PRISON
STOP the inhumane practice of permanently excluding kids from mainstream publicly funded schools, in H&F council but also in London and...
Show full commentTO STOP the pattern of permanent school-exclusion -->street-night violence --> crime --> PRISON
STOP the inhumane practice of permanently excluding kids from mainstream publicly funded schools, in H&F council but also in London and eventually in the UK.
STOP the marginalisation and rejection of kids from school settings in their primary or secondary schools that will inevitably cause permanent social exclusion for the rest of their lives, not to mention lifelong mental health problems
STOP the evil circuit of “alternative provisions” (new name for an old institution: Special Referral Units) TBAP and “Special schools” that, for their very nature, make the kid behaviour worse and exacerbate the marginalisation and the anger of the young person. These schools often act as parking spaces for excluded kids and reintegration to mainstream education is delayed for years or often never takes place
STOP the horrible ping-pong practice ("manage moves") of moving difficult kids among schools and Academies in the borough: it does not work, it is still a form of school exclusion and "absolve" schools from doing more.
STOP the flow of money that these “alternative” TBAP schools, often private, suck out of public funds, offering not even a third of the National Curriculum, lowering expectations from the "naughty" kids and affecting their self-esteem for life!
SOLUTION?
Stop the practice of permanent exclusion and give instead more money directly to schools in order to provide MORE SPECIALISED AND PERSONALISED IN-SCHOOL SUPPORT for the “naughty impossible” kid!
FOR EXAMPLE: let each mainstream school, by law, have their specialised unit that helps with difficult challenging behaviour, but still within the school premises and still facilitating reintegration of the kid within school life.
I truly believe that in the long-run the Council will save a lot of money and society as a whole will be better off from every point of view.
Show less of commentclassylady77
Community Member 3 years agoFirst of all GetKhanOut he’s putting money in but when asked has no idea how that money is being spent and it’s having 0 results…
Bring back stop and search for everyone.. to many children are dying we need to save lives… Do a report on...
Show full commentFirst of all GetKhanOut he’s putting money in but when asked has no idea how that money is being spent and it’s having 0 results…
Bring back stop and search for everyone.. to many children are dying we need to save lives… Do a report on the fact that 40% of those being stabbed murdered are black when they only make up 18% of london population.. You need to ask difficult questions. IF it saves a life then that’s what matters.. Or Don’t Young peoples Lives Matter anymore.. 😔
Show less of commentSeton During
Community Member 4 years agoAlthough you are not an applied scientist, what contributions have you made, are you making or intend to make about eliminating poisonous contents from incinerators flues "before" they are discharged for us to breath in - starting with The...
Show full commentAlthough you are not an applied scientist, what contributions have you made, are you making or intend to make about eliminating poisonous contents from incinerators flues "before" they are discharged for us to breath in - starting with The Edmonton Incinerator?
Show less of commentSeton During
Community Member 4 years agoYou our London Mayor + The Home Office + Parliament will continue unable to reduce violent and other crimes unless legislation is introduced for all landlords to install external ANPR CCTV cameras on all external walls to record where...
Show full commentYou our London Mayor + The Home Office + Parliament will continue unable to reduce violent and other crimes unless legislation is introduced for all landlords to install external ANPR CCTV cameras on all external walls to record where miscreants are escaping to and track-trace where they had come from!
Show less of commentFrom my on-the-ground experiences as a former Enfield Councillor; the statistics you rely on are unrealistic because not all crimes are reported, so, if they are not reported, the Police cannot count them.
veganline.com
Community Member 4 years agoGay Cruising.
Safer in dark undergrowth than more open space; in my experience, muggers are scared of unknown dark areas and mug on the fringes.
Unfortunately those who manage parks tend to respond to a different type of lobbyist with...
Show full commentGay Cruising.
Safer in dark undergrowth than more open space; in my experience, muggers are scared of unknown dark areas and mug on the fringes.
Unfortunately those who manage parks tend to respond to a different type of lobbyist with different motives. It might be to justify their existence by "managing" woodland, or it might be to discourage those who are disapproved-of. My council paid for something to stop gypsies camping on Barnes Common and paid for floodlights and undergrowth-clearance to discourage cruising; in their minds, I think, it is all the same kind of thing. The solution is to cease funding and co-operation with councils and park managers who do not sign-up to a safer cruising policy, which would be to
Show less of comment- allow undergrowth and cover in known cruising areas
- full open record-keeping of any "management" of those areas like cutting down trees or installing more lights
- a fall-back plan for areas where local politics and management can't be trusted by gay cruisers; where they may say one thing and do another. This would be for another organisation to manage that area of park and charge the previous managers for any continuing damage such as further tree-cutting.
Da_n
Community Member 4 years agoWe need more funding into schools and youth clubs to give young people long term hobbies and activities to do during summer holidays and after school. City Hall should fund activities such boxing clubs and self defence classes and give...
Show full commentWe need more funding into schools and youth clubs to give young people long term hobbies and activities to do during summer holidays and after school. City Hall should fund activities such boxing clubs and self defence classes and give young people access to personal trainers and mentors they can trust and look up to. Places like gyms, youth centres and clubs with mentors and trainers can create a safe environment for young people and can help reduce their fear in the streets whilst building their confidence.
Youth services and clubs should provide a place of trust so young people can speak to an adult about any problems. Some young people carry knives because they don't feel safe on the streets, so they take matters into their own hands. City Hall needs to speak to people like Raheel who spoke to LBC and runs "The Compound-Newham's Street Gym". Gym owners and youth service workers like this need the funds in order to continue supporting young people. https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/knife-crime-london-youth-worker-armoured-car/
We also need to introduce community policing within youth services and schools to try build trust between young people and the police service. The police and schools need to work with youth services to find strategies to stop drug and gang culture and the only way is to give children a better community to thrive in.
Not all children are academic, so we need to promote alternatives within our education system that can open more young people's mind to opportunities in the arts and music industry, sports and apprenticeships with a decent pay. This is as many young people go into drug and gang culture because it is glorified with money and opportunities that draw them into a life of crime. If young people don't know their full potential, they won't be motivated to meet their potential.
Show less of commentChangshin
Community Member 4 years agoPersonally I see the Police more interested in drinking their coffee at the local service station that doing police work.
Everything starts with the basics, I see drivers everyday breaking road rules, the police sit their watching, of...
Show full commentPersonally I see the Police more interested in drinking their coffee at the local service station that doing police work.
Everything starts with the basics, I see drivers everyday breaking road rules, the police sit their watching, of course unless it the time of the month to bring in money, then they hide behind a tree scanning passing by vehicles dishing out fines. If you actually bothered stopping people who are driving recklessly and fining them you would not need to hide behind trees.
A friend of mine captured on camera a vehicle parked outside his house, people got out and started to try and open other peoples cars. The police came and took a look at the footage, they stated they could not do nothing since the number plate was not captured, quite pathetic, why? let me tell you, the road in question has one entry and exit point since its a dead end, the road exits to a main road, from the captured footage the make and model of the vehicle was easily identifiable , they were able to see what time the vehicle drove off, keeping in mind that there is only one exit point straight onto a main road which is full of cameras, they could have easily tracked the vehicle if they want do but they couldn't be bothered, of course if it was a celebrity they would been on the case and cause the criminals in a jippy.
As a British citizen the police have my respect but not my trust, once trust is lost trying to get it back is not easy.
So back to the question, simple answer, be more proactive, action the simple stuff, it's stopping the simple crimes that ensure the bigger crimes don't happen, why because attacking the simple issues grows an awareness of the police, criminals will then naturally be more aware and mindful.
Right now every theif or robber knows that the police does nothing.
Show less of commentSeton During
Community Member 4 years ago1. Get an outside organisation to infiltrate the Met. and identify serving officers leaking secret information to drug barons undermining police efficacy.
Show full comment2. Consider including COSTSCONSCIOUSNESS, AND, EXPORTS in your deliberations.
3....
1. Get an outside organisation to infiltrate the Met. and identify serving officers leaking secret information to drug barons undermining police efficacy.
Show less of comment2. Consider including COSTSCONSCIOUSNESS, AND, EXPORTS in your deliberations.
3. Consider coaxing all landlord in every sector to install ANPR quality CCTV on all their external walls - anticipate opposition from the Met. Police.
4. Consider optimising Maintenance Management & Maintenance - in all sectors, particularly our Public Sector!
Seton During - www.directcostscutters.com
we-are-the-99
Community Member 4 years agoWhen is the Mayor going to follow through on his campaign promise to set up an independent drugs commission “to assess the potential health, economic and criminal justice effects” should cannabis be decriminalised in the capital city? We've...
Show full commentWhen is the Mayor going to follow through on his campaign promise to set up an independent drugs commission “to assess the potential health, economic and criminal justice effects” should cannabis be decriminalised in the capital city? We've already seen the economic benefits of this effort in America and it's madness that substances that are just as "addictive" as alcohol and less so than cigarettes are still banned and people prosecuted this way.
Show less of commentmarshmellow123
Community Member 4 years agoHow does this unit prevent crime against women? After Sarah Everard’s murder, has anything changed on the streets? There was a lot of talking when she disappeared, but now everyone seems to forget about her case. Women still don’t feel safe...
Show full commentHow does this unit prevent crime against women? After Sarah Everard’s murder, has anything changed on the streets? There was a lot of talking when she disappeared, but now everyone seems to forget about her case. Women still don’t feel safe!
Show less of commentTalk London
Official Representative 4 years agoHello and thank you for sharing your concerns about women’s safety.
We shared your comment with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC - https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-m…). They told us that: “The Mayor remains committed to tackling all forms of violence against women and girls and this continues to be one of his highest priorities in his second term in office. We recognise taking steps to end Violence Against Women and Girls is a complex and challenging task, but it is one that we are determined to tackle head on. For example, the Mayor’s record investment of £62 million and a recent additional £4 million from government to tackle sexual violence and domestic abuse reflects this.
The Mayor is committed to making London a safer place where women and girls are free to live their lives and we will focus on the issues which matter most to them. We will outline plans in a refreshed Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy so that it takes a public health approach, includes a focus on prevention and responds to changing pressures. London is a member of the UN Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Programme, and across City Hall we are building on this initiative, including my ongoing support of the Women’s Night Safety Charter which will continue with an expansion plan. The Mayor will continue to lobby to change the law to make sexual harassment a specific criminal offence in public spaces. Women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and he will launch a cross-sector policy forum to coordinate efforts to advance gender equality after COVID-19.
These are a few examples of some of the activities we will push forward to do all we can to make London a place where women and girls can thrive. We do hope you have found this useful and please be assured that we will continue to prioritise this fundamentally important area of work.”
Talk London
Concerned1
Community Member 4 years agoThese are not new measures. These are another way of looking at existing measures...except this time through a new City Hall lens.
Concerned1
Community Member 4 years agoI am sure all these are already in place, albeit as separate entities. Rather than create another group, with staff with huge salaries why not ensure existing services are working effectively and efficiently?
automatic24x7
Community Member 4 years agoWe DO NOT need yet another new Unit ! or "Quango", which would only be seen as yet more "jobs for the in crowd" .
Show full commentThis is a rediculous waste of money. What we need is for the CURRENT authorities & bodies to actually get some results and to...
We DO NOT need yet another new Unit ! or "Quango", which would only be seen as yet more "jobs for the in crowd" .
Show less of commentThis is a rediculous waste of money. What we need is for the CURRENT authorities & bodies to actually get some results and to be accountable for what
they are currently paid to do, but that are underperforming at . They need to go over the ROOT causes, and not just add sticking plasters to a broken
London, but actually THINK... WHY are these offenders behaving this way in the first place, address that, encourage them not to, and put some proper deterents in place, only as a back up.