“Dear Petitioner
Thank you for the petition submitted on the change.org website asking the Mayor to support the introduction of a 10-year prison sentence for people carrying knives in public.
The Mayor has been clear that the levels of violence, which have risen in London and around the country, are too high. He shares your concerns and is committed to doing everything he can to take action on knife crime and to provide reassurance to the London community.
The Mayor has lobbied the Sentencing Council to ensure that the current practice in relation to sentencing is reinforced for knife crime offences, and that people who carry knives and cause harm with them get consistent and tougher consequences, including custodial sentences. The Mayor is clear in his belief that effective and proportionate sentencing must reflect the seriousness of an offence, whilst also respecting judicial independence.
Making London safer for young people was a critical part of the Mayor’s manifesto and his 2017-2021 Police and Crime Plan. In addition to this, he published a tough Knife Crime Strategy for London in 2017. Building on the Knife Crime Strategy, the Mayor has committed £6.8 million to fund the new Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). The VRU includes specialists in health, youth and social services to lead a long-term public health approach to tackle the causes of violent crime. This wide-ranging multi-faceted approach to tackling this issue, looks at violence as a preventable consequence of a range of factors, such as adverse early-life experiences, or harmful social or community experiences and influences, rather than as isolated incidents or solely a police enforcement problem. The VRU will build on the approaches taken in Glasgow, where a long-term public health approach to tackling serious violence has delivered large reductions in violence over the past decade.
As you mention in your petition, the Mayor has urged the Government to reverse the £850 million of cuts forced on the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), as well as their cuts to the preventative and youth services we need to keep our city safe. Because of Government underfunding, the MPS has already had to make significant cuts since 2013-14 and will be required to reduce expenditure by a further £263 million by 2022-23.
To help address this, the Mayor will be giving an additional £234 million for policing and tackling crime through his budget. This includes the £95 million announced earlier in the budget process which has been funded mostly from an 11 per cent increase to the Mayor’s council tax policing precept which is an equivalent of 46p a week.
The Mayor agrees that in these challenging times, the police need more funding to do their vital work of protecting our city and tackling crime, which is why he has established a Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF) and is providing £15 million annually to support its operation. The VCTF enables the police to be even more proactive on the streets of the capital, bearing down on violent crime and serious criminality. Violence is still at very serious levels but, between the launch of the VCTF in April 2018 and the end of June 2019, the command has carried out 9,110 weapons sweeps, recovered 1004 knives, 682 offensive weapons, 308 firearms and arrested 5,431 suspects.
The Mayor also believes that schools have an important role to play and is working to bring in more Safer Schools Officers to help to drive down knife crime in schools. He has also provided knife wands to those schools that want them to allow them to undertake searches for knives using the best technology available.
The Mayor’s ongoing social media campaign LondonNeedsYouAlive #LNYA raises awareness of the consequences of knife crime and provides reassurance and advice for people who are concerned about someone’s involvement in knife crime. A toolkit has been developed for schools, colleges, community groups, parents and others to make use of the campaign’s materials. This allows teachers to educate students in the way suggested in the petition. More details about this and the other work which has been done by the Mayor’s Office can be accessed on the City Hall website. For more details, please visit: www.london.gov.uk/london-needs-you-alive.
The Young Londoners Fund has been created to help London’s children and young people fulfil their potential, particularly those at risk of getting caught up in crime. The Mayor’s initial investment of £45 million into this fund is supporting a range of education, sport and cultural activities for children and young people across London. This funding is in addition to £1.4 million which has been allocated to support 43 grassroots, community-led, anti-knife crime projects across the capital.
The causes of violence are complicated, and so there is no one simple solution to tackling it. The solutions will lie in a combination of tough enforcement by the police, intervention to stop people from becoming involved in violence and activity to help people make better life choices and turn away from crime.
Taken together, this short-term enforcement by the police and long-term activity across services in London will deliver a relentless focus on tackling knife crime and violence across the capital.
I hope that this provides some reassurance that the Mayor is committed to doing all he can to tackle the rise in knife crime in London and making London an even safer place for all.
Yours sincerely
Public Liaison Unit
Greater London Authority”
