Get a grip on violence, Khan told as killings in capital reach 100
SADIQ KHAN has been urged to tackle the “horrendous” gang warfare problem in London after police opened their 100th homicide investigation in the capital this year.
Violent crime in London has soared in recent months, briefly overtaking the murder rate in New York, and figures are on track to make 2018 the deadliest in a decade. Detectives are now looking into the murder of Kaltoun Saleh, 43, who died in hospital on Tuesday, seven weeks after she was severely burnt in a flat fire in Finsbury Park, north London.
Conservative MP, Neil O’brien, said: “Sadiq Khan needs to get a grip on this horrendous epidemic. London has the resources it needs but needs political leadership, which is currently lacking.”
Tory MP David Davies, who served as a special constable, said: “Sadiq Khan is symptomatic of politicians who don’t want police to stop and search and do their job properly.
“Instead he should stand up to socalled community leaders who complain about police harassment.”
As a result of the lawlessness in the capital, those attending Notting Hill Carnival this bank holiday weekend will have to pass through knife arches for the first time in the event’s history.
Mr Khan tweeted a Met Police press release detailing their plans for the carnival, calling it a “fantastic celebration of what makes London great”, thanking officers for “making sure it’s safe for everyone to enjoy themselves”.
Last year, 300 arrests were made at the carnival after some revellers repeatedly clashed with police.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph in July, Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, accused his successor of an “abject failure to grip the problem” of violence in the city, calling his failure to take responsibility for the wave of knife and gun crime a “pathetic performance”.
Reacting to the number of violent deaths reaching 100 in London, Lord Blunkett, the former home secretary, said: “It’s a tragedy that we have reached this unacceptable benchmark.
“It is regrettably part of a broader trend linked to knife crime and cuts.
“The withdrawal of resources has been particularly felt by the Met, because the Met has to pick up the cost of counter-terrorism as well.”
London could this year surpass the 2017 tally for homicides – murder or manslaughter – of 131, but the comparative figure remains lower than in 2007 when it stood at 164.