Mayor urges communities to ‘root out knife scourge’ by working with police

The Mayor said "every life lost is an utter tragedy"
Alex Lentati

Mayor Sadiq Khan today called on London’s communities to work with the police against knife crime, saying: “Every life lost is an utter tragedy.”

He spoke out as detectives said they were investigating two new knife attacks on teenagers last night in which the victims suffered serious but non-fatal injuries.

A 17-year-old boy attacked in Walthamstow on Sunday became the 11th fatal knife victim in London in less than a fortnight and the capital’s ninth teenage homicide victim this year.

Mr Khan in a statement issued to the Standard said: “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.”

He added that he hoped to restore “real neighbourhood policing” with two officers in every ward by the end of the year. “My message today is clear: if you carry a knife in London, we will catch you and arrest you,” he said.

He spoke as Scotland Yard announced it was expanding its campaign against knife crime after a week of action when police seized 300 knives and 15 guns.

A 100-strong task force deployed to knife crime hotspots uncovered the weapons in more than 1,000 searches across London in the eighth phase of the Operation Sceptre campaign.

Senior officers said the Sceptre campaign was being extended to run for a week every month instead of twice a year while the knife crime task force would become permanent.

Last week police made a total of 393 arrests, including a 12-year-old boy found in possession of a seven-inch kitchen knife during a stop and search.

He was released on bail to appear at a youth court this week.

A total of 47 of the Met’s most violent offenders were arrested during the week of intense activity, 17 of them in stop and search operations.

Police also stopped 65 known knife carriers and arrested 14 of them.

Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gallagher, leading the anti-knife operations, said: “We have not increased the number of stop and searches but it has become more targeted.”

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