HOW MANY MORE INNOCENTS MUST DIE?
Gangs ‘out of control’ as youth worker, 17, dies in mother’s arms
SENIOR ministers were urged to push for a return to old-fashioned policing yesterday to halt a rising tide of gang violence.
The appeal came as 17-year-old youth worker Tanesha Melbourne, left, died in her mother’s arms after being gunned down in London. Just 30 minutes later Amaan Shakoor, 16, was shot nearby and also later died. An exScotland Yard detective claimed gangsters no longer fear police.
Peter Bleksley said: “How much more teenage blood has to be spilt
before politicians finally take note?” He spoke as politicians and ex-officers called for a drastic increase in stop and search operations to curb the number of guns and knives on the streets.
The 17-year-old girl gunned down in the drive-by shooting in London was the 47th murder in the capital this year.
Youth worker Tanesha Melbourne was chatting with friends when a gangland assassin opened fire from a moving car in Tottenham at about 9.30pm on Monday. She died in her mother’s arms at the scene, despite efforts by police and paramedics to save her.
The senseless killing stunned the neighbourhood. School friend Candice Hassan, 17, said: “Everyone knows Tanesha, she’s just a humble girl. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn’t deserve any of that.”
Last night police feared “serious violence” in the north London district as revenge for the teenager’s murder. Senior officers set up a stop-and-search regime to prevent youths from bringing in guns, knives and other weapons.
The operation, authorised by Commander David Musker allowed police to stop and search any person or vehicle in a strictly defined area.
Just 30 minutes after Tanesha was shot, police were called to a separate shooting four miles away in Walthamstow, east London. Officers found Amaan Shakoor with gunshot wounds to his face and a boy of 15 with stab injuries. Amaan died in hospital.
Violent crime is rising across Britain at a time when budget cuts have reduced the number of police officers to a record low of 121,929. Crucially, the use of stop and search – the most traditional of police anti-crime tactics – is also at an all-time low.
Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a massive reduction in the number of stops and searches in 2014 when she was Home Secretary and the figure plummeted from more than a million to fewer than 400,000 amid fears it unfairly targeted black youngsters.
Colin Sutton, a respected ex-murder squad detective, called for an increase in stop and search last night in response to the rising street violence.
“They [gangs] treat it like an arms race – if other people are carrying weapons, you better be carrying as well,” the former detective chief inspector said.
“I don’t see any other solution to the rise in knife, gun crime and gang crime.”
Sophie Linden, deputy London mayor for policing and crime, said stop and search was an “effective tool” to take guns and knives off the streets.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reportedly called for an increase in stop and search during a Cabinet meeting last month, in an intervention seen as a challenge to Mrs May’s stand.
Former gang member Sheldon Thomas, who runs the Gangsline charity, said the black community must face home truths about gang crime.
He said: “We are afraid to say that most of the young people killing each other are black and most of the people involved in this lifestyle come from single-parent homes.
“We are also afraid to say that most of the people involved are being groomed by older people to do their dirty work.”
In March, murders in London overtook New York City. Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick has promised more stop-and-search operations in future.
Rob Owen of the St Giles Trust, which works to steer gang members away from crime said: “I’m calling for emergency funding to support this vital work so we can save lives.”
The Home Office said: “Our new Serious Violence Strategy will put a stronger focus on steering young people away from violence whilst continuing to ensure the strongest possible law enforcement response.
“We have already announced new funding of up to £1million to help communities tackle knife crime.”
ALMOST inconceivable but true: the murder rate in London is now higher than in New York. What a senseless loss of young lives, what an appalling indictment of a gang culture that is running rife on our streets. And how horribly ironic that the latest poor soul to lose her life, Tanesha Melbourne, was actually a youth worker trying to keep youngsters away from crime.
It is time for action from the authorities, above all from London Mayor Sadiq Khan. So far his performance on this issue has been lamentable: children are dying, being stabbed or targeted in drive-by shootings and all we have had is platitudes, with no proper resources in place to tackle what is going on.
We need a far more visible police presence and not just when it comes to this plague of gang crime – never forget that the crime rate in New York dropped dramatically after the introduction of a zero tolerance policy. A similar attitude should be taken over here.
As it is the death rate would be even higher were it not for the superb work done by trauma surgeons but they should never have had to deal with these young victims in the first place. Sadiq Khan must make this an absolute priority and resolve this, starting with far more police on patrol in what seem to be becoming no-go areas. This is a shocking and terrible state of affairs.