Police cuts are weakening our ability to deal with knife crime

Three weeks ago my 16-year-old son and a friend of his were mugged in Norwood by a gang of seven youths who stole their phones, punched my son and threatened to stab him. Plain clothes police were there within minutes and the whole incident was caught on CCTV footage.

It was 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon and the boys who attacked them were wearing hoodies/anoraks covering their school blazers. But they were obviously local (and two of them have been spotted since then on a bus in Croydon).

So the police have footage of the boys (none of whom apparently are already in the system), including face shots, but have said they don’t have the resources to go into the local schools and identify them. And they don’t have any community police or liaisons with schools.

Meanwhile, on Thursday a 15-year-old was stabbed in Bellingham, on Friday a 17-year-old was stabbed in Clapham and on Monday a 16-year-old was stabbed in Tulse Hill. I cry in sympathy for their parents and in frustration that the boys who attacked my son have a growing sense of invulnerability and added confidence that they can commit bigger crimes and get away with impunity; perhaps they’re already out there stabbing people, perhaps they’re just building up to it.

Our city continues to serve teenage boys and young men badly – now the police funding cuts mean the police are unable to get results even when they have the evidence. What chance does anyone have of feeling safe on the streets of London, especially if they’re young and male?

Tammy Boydell
London SE26

Tackling knife crime will require a complex web of solutions and, as you have rightly identified, a long-term view of how to deliver those solutions.

One way that was assessed as being highly effective throughout the country – until it was decimated – was Sure Start. This dealt with so many issues identified in your editorial, but crucially without singling families out from the beginning. So people of different backgrounds came together in their local Sure Start, learnt from each other and supported each other as well as receiving support from trained staff.

I just missed out on it but a relative who had a child a few years later than me told me how effectively it worked. No patronising of, or importantly singling out those deemed to be “failures” – instead a way of bringing people together. Her group included the high flying professional having a baby in her forties, those who were learning disabled and a very young teenager.

The disassembling of this highly effective mechanism has not only coincided with a rise in crime but also a surge in children coming under the care of social services. It is time for Sure Start to be restarted as part of a national plan to tackle crime and to help parents from the very start of a child’s life.

Kerry Larbalestier
Address supplied

You fail to mention that middle class demand for drugs is fuelling the gang wars.

Michael Collins
Address supplied

With reference to David Lowndes’s letter yesterday, I wonder if any of your readers know that business rates are levied on schools and that private schools are charities and get a discount.

The valuations were reassessed in 2015 and came into force last year. How much did business rate increases add to the woes of school leaders?

Hospitals too are subject to business rates, with a similar discount for the private sector. One wonders how valuations are made when public sector hospitals and schools have no market value with their current permitted use.

Carol Wilcox, secretary of the Labour Land Campaign
Christchurch

I was sorry to hear of the death of David Crossland, The Independent crossword setter known as “Dac”. I always enjoyed his puzzles.

Thank you for a lovely tribute. It is always interesting to read someone’s backstory, albeit in sad circumstances.

John Schluter
Guildford

I can’t believe Trump would attract the attention of any voters. Neither can I grasp the fact that this man who doesn’t even have the capability of putting together a meaningful sentence would have the power to pose a threat to Democrats in the election.

I still can’t figure out how anyone, let alone a veteran politician like Clinton, would lose to a shallow, arrogant and empty vessel like Trump.

All this shows US citizens have a major problem to deal with.

We better wake up to what went wrong with the situation that has made a lying, manipulative man like Trump end up the president of the most powerful country on the planet.

Abubakar N Kasim
Toronto, Canada

Wayne Rooney is old news who failed to deliver internationally at critical games. Southgate has made a magnificent start as manager handling his young team with great skill.

Peter Humber
Address supplied