On the day that Scotland Yard has announced an expansion to their knife crime operation Sceptre, Sadiq Khan has released a strong statement supporting the fight against knife crime in the capital, dedicating more police numbers and time to the movement.
Mr Kahn’s statement to the Evening Standard read, “Today I want to send an unequivocal message that carrying knives will simply not be tolerated on London’s streets, and I am calling on everybody in London to work with the police to help root out this scourge.
“Every life lost is an utter tragedy and my thoughts are with the families and friends of all those who have so needlessly lost their lives.
“I am working with the Metropolitan Police, young people, schools, families and community groups to do everything we can to keep Londoners safe.”
Khan’s message calls on communities to work alongside police to source out those who carry knives, he also pledged for a rise in “real neighbourhood policing”.
There have been some truly staggering figures released in recent weeks, with Operation Spectre seizing 300 knives and 15 guns in a spate of 1000 searches during just one week. As well as this, there were 393 arrests made in a single week last week, including a 12 year old who was found in possession of a 7inch knife during a stop and search.
On Sunday Elijah Dornelly, who was only 17, died from a single stab wound in Walthamstow making him the 11th fatal victim of knife crime since the start of 2017. In response to these alarming statistics, the Spectre campaign has been increased to be rolled out once every month instead of only twice a year, with the task force now permanent to the Met.
These numbers clearly speak volumes about the need to tackle the real issues within communities and government that are leading to the acceptability of carrying a knife. More updates from Sadiq Khan at GRM Daily.