In Newham, the number of young victims of knife crime has declined from a peak in late 2017, and although the reasons for this are not fully understood it is a positive development. What policies are working here and what more needs to be done to continue this trend?

Through continued investment from City Hall into the Metropolitan Police Service, and into the wider ecosystem of groups working to prevent violence, we have begun to see some positive indications of reductions in violence and the terrible harm it causes. In 2019, before crime rates dropped across the board due to the pandemic, there was notably a 15 percent reduction in the number of knife crimes with injury against under-25s.

City Hall has invested £70million into the ‘Young Londoners Fund’, to provide positive places and projects where London’s young people can relax, learn and develop outside of school and avoid being drawn into criminal activity or violence.

Actions such as this, and investment in other programmes such as mentoring for disadvantaged students in Pupil Referral Units, are what are needed, alongside investment in the police if we are to continue to reduce levels of violent crime.

Young people affected by or involved in violence in Newham come from a range of backgrounds. However, children and young people from certain backgrounds such as BAME are disproportionately affected. In your opinion, why does this happen and how we can avoid stereotyping young BAME communities because of the actions of a tiny minority?

Research has shown evidence of a link between area-level poverty and violence in London. Three-quarters of the boroughs in London with the highest levels of violent offending are also in the top ten most deprived, and have higher proportions of children under 20 living in poverty. Many of the poorest areas in London are also those areas with large BAME populations.

You are right to point out that it is a tiny minority of young BAME communities caught up in violence and nobody should be stereotyped based on their ethnicity. Prejudice and stereotyping must be called out whenever it occurs as well as institutional racism. Through my work on the police committee I have continued to scrutinise the Met’s relationship with London’s BAME and particularly Black communities, to put pressure on the Met to ensure that any prejudices that still exist among our police, and institutional racism, are rooted out.

Many young people feel they are targeted by the police, particularly in the use of stop and search. What more do the police need to do to build trust with young people?

Sadly, in certain boroughs young people from BAME and Black backgrounds are disproportionately affected by violent crime, and the police will often state that this is the reason for a corresponding disproportionality in the number of young BAME, particularly Black, Londoners stopped and searched each month.

Stop and search is vital if used effectively with the trust of the communities it is being used in, and I welcome the introduction of body-worn video cameras that protect the interests of both police and those being stopped and searched. Recent statistics do show, however, that Black Londoners are less supportive and trustworthy of the Met than white Londoners and this is something the Met must improve on if tools like stop and search can continue to be used effectively.

To build trust, the Mayor of London is implementing an action plan for the Met, which includes increasing the number of BAME officers to 40 percent of the overall workforce and investing in training for officers around issues such as stop and search.

I have recently released a report, Policing with Consent, which is available on my website with my own thoughts on how the Met should improve in this area. I think in addition to the Mayor’s plan, the Met’s leadership needs to better acknowledge the work that must be done to gain the trust of London’s black communities, and that this should be reflected in public statements.

Young people also feel they are not listened to by the adult world. Newham in particular has an amazing pool of talented, creative and smart youngsters, but they often struggle to get their voices heard in debates about the problems they face. How can that be changed in the Borough’s Year of Young People?

It is sadly too often the case that young people do not feel they can make themselves heard. It’s an endemic problem in politics, of course, because under a certain age you can’t vote and too many politicians focus only on those who can vote for them.

You’re absolutely right that Newham has a huge pool of talented, smart and creative young people and we see that demonstrated time and again in all kinds of ways. I do feel it’s getting easier to ensure we hear their voices – in the last few years, the council in particular has come a long way in ensuring that it does look to hear the opinions of young people on a wide range of issues, because all issues in society affect young people, either now or soon.

But I do think we can go further still and look at better ways to engage young people – using the power of not just schools and colleges, but also youth services and the internet to make sure we keep increasing the ways in which they can engage with services in the Borough and tell us what they know.

According to Trust for London, Newham has more than 37 percent of people living in poverty. This poses enormous social challenges. What needs to be done to improve public safety and security and reduce levels of crime in areas of social dislocation?
In particular, what more can be done to reduce the problems of drug abuse, anti-social behaviour and other criminal behaviour which is not the fault or responsibility of young people, but they often get the blame for it.

Poverty is a huge issue in Newham, one which has a serious impact on crime, and more must be done to ensure that people are not being left destitute as a result of the pandemic.

Ten years of austerity cuts have left Londoners worse off, and with councils such as Newham having fewer resources to deal with issues such as anti-social behaviour and substance abuse. This is alongside reduced budgets for providing mental health support and other services which contribute towards reducing the crime rates.

In addition to reducing the budgets for support services, the Government has also introduced cuts of £886 million pounds to the Met Police, meaning that they have had fewer resources to deal with non-urgent crimes, such as theft, anti-social behaviour and drug abuse. The Government are now re-investing in the police, but it will take a long time to repair the damage caused.

We recognise the damage that crime has on communities, and particularly on young people who are often wrongly held responsible for it.

Only by properly funding a public health approach and tackling the root causes of crime – as well as enforcement action where necessary – will we begin to see sustained drops in the levels of crime in London, and less blame being apportioned to young people as a result.

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