Community Life

By Guy Smith
BBC London's Home Affairs Correspondent

Twenty-four mothers have lost their sons or daughter so far this year. One told BBC London just last week she had always seen others grieving on TV news. But never in her worst nightmares did she expect to end up talking about her own child on the television.

It seems hardly a week goes by now without another teenager murdered in the capital, another case file landing on a senior investigating officer's desk, and another family traumatised.

That then eventually appears in a newspaper, on radio or on the TV. Yet it never quite captures the agonising reality that ricochets through a family.

I've been Home Affairs Correspondent for five years. It never gets any easier, having to talk to a brother, a father or indeed a mother. In the media, we call it rather coldly "getting the reaction". But it's always a deeply uncomfortable experience. The uncontrollable emotion, the shock and sometimes seething rage.

'golden solution'

The victims are young. The person who pulls the trigger or thrusts a knife into a body is more often than not also a teenager. So why is this happening? Well, it's not something new. It's happened over generations.

And criminologists, police officers, educationists, youth and social workers, and politicians are still struggling to come up with a golden solution to the violence. There are fact-finding trips abroad to Boston, Chicago and LA. Unfortunately, there are no simple, quick-fix answers.

But today the problem seems to be getting worse. So what's it like now for a young person living in some of the boroughs most affected by violent crime: Lambeth, Hackney, Brent, Southwark and Croydon. 

BBC London commissioned a telephone survey on November 5-12. The aim was to give an insight into their fears and concerns. 500 teenagers, aged 13 to 18, living in Croydon, Brent Hackney, Southwark and Lambeth were asked for their thoughts about guns and knives in their area. Market research company ComRes conducted the poll.

Some of the results are predictable. Others are unsettling and even slightly depressing.

wall of silence

Only 57% say they would always report gun or knife crime. Those that wouldn't tell the police give a raft of reasons.

Here's a taster of what they said: "Fear. If people find out, they're going to kill me. I'm not willing to risk my life for the sake of anyone. I'm not a snitch. Police won't be able to do anything. They don't do nothing the police. Police can't do nothing. If it involves some of my close friends. Sometimes I can not be bothered. The protection system is s**t. Being called a grass. Not being protected by the Police. I don't trust the Police."

Another suggested finding is that 62 per cent of children asked, say they are worried about other teenagers carrying a knife or gun. If even partially accurate, then it is a concern. 

One in five boys, suggests the survey, say they sometimes have to carry a weapon for protection.

Last month, Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said it was 'totally unacceptable' that those caught carrying knives on the street received only cautions.

Sir Ian warned: 'We have to stop the growing incidence of weapons being carried on our streets.'

Just days after the murder of 17-year-old Rizwan Darbar, the 14th teenager to be fatally stabbed in the capital this year, he revealed that half of those caught in possession of a blade in London had not been taken to court.

lack of trust

The poll also suggests that more than half (58%) of youngsters feel that the police are unable to protect them if they're attacked.

These statistics would suggest that there is a deficit of trust between those growing up in London and authority.

A significant number of teenagers interviewed say they had lost confidence in uniformed officers: 26% of those polled say they have no faith in the police dealing with violent crime.

There were other questions including how difficult is it to get hold of a weapon in London. Not hard, according to the survey. It showed 43% think a gun can be bought in their neighbourhood. Three quarters think it's easy to buy a knife.

Yet to put it in perspective, total recorded crime in London has dropped by around nine per cent, since Sir Ian Blair took over in early 2005. Violence against the person, including many of the crimes that most worry people, has fallen by 10 per cent. In the year until April 2007, crime was down in every single major category, except street robbery.

So the parting comment from former BBC Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross of "don't have nightmares" should ring true. Unless you happen to be a relative of one of this year's victims of violent crime.