Thread by @steve_way

Bit of a thread... Of course there's a correlation between cuts to police funding & rise in knife & violent crime but it's more than that....
Police chief says rise in knife crime in England is 'national emergency' theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/m…

2/ As a Governor I've sat on a lot of disciplinary panels set up to try & prevent children getting involved in gang culture. Mostly parents/carers are horrified at what their child is doing but often helpless to stop it. Many of the children think they are untouchable.

3/ There are two underlying thread. The first is drugs & their supply. There are always drugs involved, a 'bit of weed', graduating to skunk, cocaine, ketamine & more. Those enticing the kids to get involved are looking for mules, dealers, runners

4/ The gangs control their territory by being armed & using force. So all the members are armed. So those that see this behaviour are armed, & happy to use copycat force to get their way & control 'respect' of others.

5/ So first thing - deal with the drug supply. More resources to stop it, or legalise & regulate drugs, or punitive penalties for possession, whatever. But middle class drug use is what's driving & funding the gangs & knife crime. All this will take money.

6/ And (you may have noticed) it's in schools we are trying to stop this, no-one else has access to the children involved in the same way. But schools are having to cut behaviour teams, Learning assistants & pastoral care to save money. Cuts to school funding in real terms

7/ So schools need more funding (not just for this, but it's a good illustration of the impact of the real decrease in available money). However, should it be schools doing this? Perhaps social services and mental health support would be better.

8/ Funding for those have been cut, too. Reductions in benefits, the removal of EMA - these impact kids who just want money to live (something literally). So they turn to easy money from the gangs. Often the kid realise the danger of getting involved but...

9/ "There's nothing else to do" - children's services have been cut, no youth workers, youth centres closing, youth programmes stopped. Table tennis won't stop the hard core but it does give somewhere to go, stops average kids getting dragged in

10/ & cuts to social services mean that vulnerable families and households have no-one to turn to to help them when things get tough. Meanwhile the 'Hostile Environment' & apparent mob rule makes people & communities less likely to integrate & reach out

11/ So what to do? Well, more money to all the above. Tax rich & companies for a better society? How about tackling the drugs trade (shaming adverts? A line at your dinner party means a knife in the back for a kid?) More police. More funding for prison, probation & rehab services

12/ Restore local provision, social services, benefits, invest in social housing, support the vulnerable members of society. Educate & enforce law in equal parts, working in communities.

13/ Most of all - strong, pragmatic leadership. Cut the self interest, the ideology, the dreadful mob rule mentality and lead in a statesmanlike way for the good of the country, not of minority groups. And stop the political infighting, all of you - we have bigger problems!

@threadreaderapp unroll