Politically correct policing is not going to end knife crime
‘There is nothing vulnerable about youths who are killing their peers’
We were in London over Easter when the daughter became ill. We called for medical advice and were amazed and gratified when two paramedics turned up just 20 minutes later. As the female paramedic, one of those tough, funny Cockneys you’re very glad still exists, set to work I thanked her profusely.
“Be honest with you, love, it makes a nice change,” she said with a weary smile. “Not a stabbing, is it?”
Did they see a lot of knife crime? The paramedics rolled their eyes. “It’s a war zone out there,” the man said flatly, “you really don’t wanna go into A&E.” Some gang members, it seems, will actually fight a rival gang while they’re being treated for knife wounds.
The previous week, the lovely Cockney had attended one young man who was lucky to be alive. A knife had gone all the way through him. “It come out the other side so he couldn’t lay down because the blade was sticking out his back. I told him I was gonna give him an injection and he said, ‘No, please, I’m scared of needles.’” I said: “Look mate, don’t want to be funny or anything, but you’ve got a dirty great knife in you and you’re telling me you’re scared of needles?’”
We all laughed. But there was a bitter, surreal tinge to the mirth. The carnage being described was happening in our capital city, on streets just a mile or two away. The paramedic said she often saw boys “walking funny” down the street. “They’ve got knives that big stuffed down their trouser leg. It’s criminal, but no one does nothing about it.”
This vivid, eyewitness testimony bears out the alarming news that the murder rate in London has overtaken that of New York while violent crime has risen across England and Wales. The reaction of the authorities to this surge of lawlessness has been – I’m struggling to find a better word – pitiful. OK, let’s go with risible.
On Monday, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, launched a 114-page strategy document to tackle violent crime but made no mention of the loss of 20,000 police officers since 2010. Ms Rudd pledged to “consult” on extending police stop and search powers to seize acid. Nothing was said about the catastrophic decision, taken by Ms Rudd’s predecessor, Theresa May, to restrict the stop and search powers that did so much to confiscate knives from black youths before they could kill one another.
Also taking part in Monday’s discussion was London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, wringing his hands about “the desperate underfunding of health, education and youth services”. Faced with casualty departments full of bloodied teenage bodies, politicians trot out vacuous, progressive-sounding statements about “vulnerable” young people. There is nothing vulnerable about the youths who are shooting and killing their peers and then boasting about their exploits on social media.
Young men like them are no longer scared of authority. Why would they be when the police’s priority is arresting middle-class Archies and Liams for sexual assaults they didn’t carry out on their girlfriends? Or, thanks to Khan, using valuable resources to monitor “hate crime”.
Of course, there is a powerful case for providing help and education for fatherless boys drawn to warped authority figures. Harriet Sergeant, author of the brilliant Among The Hoods, says that seven out of 10 boys don’t even want to be in a gang; they only join for protection and because “our wretched schools fail to offer other outlets like competitive sport”. A Combined Cadet Force in every innercity comprehensive would certainly work wonders for self-discipline. But early intervention is no substitute for law and order. Both Rudd and Khan prefer to hide behind the woolly hedge of “complex problems”. Anything to distract us from a dire situation which a battle-hardened paramedic identified with admirable succinctness.
How did we arrive at a situation where senior members of a Conservative government are more concerned with showing off politically correct credentials than doubling down on law enforcement? Anxiety about being accused of racism, and a commitment to “diversity” at any price, now prevents our institutions from doing their job. If you look at the list of the 55 murder victims in London in 2018 you will find only one white British name.
Trevor Phillips, former head of the Commission for Racial Equality and one of the few brave enough to speak out, said: “The victims and perpetrators are mainly from a narrow range of backgrounds, and we should not be afraid to say so. Unless we are honest enough to acknowledge the real nature of the problem, and in particular the fact that it has a racial and cultural dimension, all we are doing is flapping our lips and virtue signalling.”
Phillips has called for tougher policing methods to be used in black communities afflicted by knife crime. The same methods which Mrs May dissuaded the police from using because young black men being “disproportionately targeted”, she said, was “an affront to justice”. More of an affront to justice than scores of black kids being hacked down because police lack the backing to confiscate weapons? On Friday, Sara Thornton, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said that police must have confidence to use stop and search powers without the “chill effect” of political interference. She has the full backing of every sensible person.
Our leaders may look like wonderfully progressive social reformers, but they put our country and people at risk. Besides, what could be more racist than letting black kids die horrible, violent deaths to prove what a tolerant, compassionate and splendidly diverse individual you are?
Me, I’m with the paramedic. If someone is walking funny because of a dirty great knife down the trousers, then arrest them. Doing nothing, that’s criminal.