Safety in the black community

Despite only making up 13 per cent of London’s population, black Londoners represent 61 per cent knife murder perpetrators and 45 per cent knife murder victims. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that if you’re not black, you’re not affected; this murder epidemic affects us all, especially our young Londoners.

Evidence shows that the Mayor’s strategies have failed in this area. The Mayor always talks about how much he has spent, yet ignores the lack of results. 

London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has cost approximately £20 million or more annually since 2020, meaning we have spent nearly £62 million to date on a unit that is nearly impossible to scrutinise. The VRU say they believe violence is preventable, but not inevitable, however since its inception in 2018, youth homicide is at record levels. 

Vast sums of money are being spent with little evidence of outcomes. The Police and Crime Committee have repeatedly questioned MOPAC on the goals and outcomes of the VRU, which seems unable to demonstrate the effectiveness of the public money being spent.

I asked the Mayor to conduct a study into why the murder rate is so terrifyingly high for black Londoners, he brushed me off. Whilst he is willing to conduct a study into de-criminalising marijuana, which he thinks will make him popular, he has not prioritised investigations into why young black Londoners continue to be murdered on our streets.

In the time Sadiq Khan has been Mayor, the sanction detection rate (number of crimes solved) has fallen from 19.3 per cent to only 8.7 per cent in 2021, despite there being more police on London’s streets than at any point in almost 20 years. Black Londoners are disproportionately more likely to be both the victims and perpetrators of knife crime. I have been working with young people and families for over 30 years and my heart has broken over and over again for those lost, for their family and friends left behind, and the effect this has on us all.

I met a mother and sat with her at a skateboard park where she watches over her 22-year-old son, who she will not let out of her sight, because she's afraid he'll be murdered.

I met a 15-year-old boy who had been caught with a knife. I went through all of the clever things that adults say and at the end of the conversation he stood up and he said, 'Thanks for coming to see me, but I want you to know this Mr Bailey: We live with murderers in our midst.'

‘We live with murderers in our midst.'

It wiped out all the good advice I'd given him. Because he is correct.

But we need not stand by helplessly as more blood is shed; there is action we can take. We must increase the number of crimes being solved, so that communities know that justice is being served; nothing emboldens criminals more than knowing they will probably get away with it. We can improve stop-and-search by training both young people to know their rights and the police to carry it out better; keeping communities informed of when and why this strategy is being used. We can ask the Met to stop using images of zombie knives, as it terrifies our young people and speeds up the arms race on our streets.

We can implement a program of gang call-ins, lowering the temperature on the streets, giving the police a vital tool in combating the growing number of gangs in London. And we must not undermine our police; this produces a lawlessness as young people believe they must fend for themselves, protect themselves. And the Mayor of London must support the police as a critical friend, so that if the police act unprofessionally, this can then be called out without damaging the relationship between Londoners and the police. All of these actions and more should have been taken by the Mayor when he assumed office nearly six years ago.

Last year alone, we saw 30 teenagers tragically murdered: the highest on record. The Mayor’s strategies are not working. This is why I proposed a motion calling for a commission on knife crime in the black community, this is why my colleagues at the Assembly supported it and this is why we call on the Mayor to make sure it happens.

The strength and depth of our communities is such that if we pull together, it is never too late to start the work of making London safer. We must ask the tough questions, gain greater understanding of the pressures that communities face, and we must take meaningful action that is impactful. Young people in London, like all of us, are searching for a brighter future. We must give them that hope. We must keep them safe.

Shaun Bailey is a London Assembly member