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Mother of stabbing victim accuses Cressida Dick of knife crime inaction
12 August 2021, 10:17 | Updated: 12 August 2021, 10:48
My son has been stabbed and my area is wracked with knife crime
A mother whose son was stabbed has accused Dame Cressida Dick and the Metropolitan Police of inaction over the scourge of knife crime in London.
Speaking on Call the Commissioner with LBC's Nick Ferrari, caller Sam said she lives in an area where knife crime and violence is a daily issue.
"The Met Police claim to be cracking down on violence and knife crime, but the reality could not be more different for people like me," she said.
Sam then asked the police chief: "You claim to have strategies, but when will we see results?"
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Dame Cressida replied, saying she is "really sorry" to hear that her son has been stabbed and that she "regrets" the phenomenon of knife crime in the city.
"Only earlier this week I met with a mum who has lost her son to knife crime," she added.
"This year, we've had 23 teenagers killed with knives and what we are seeing is that within these homicides, and some of the homicides of older people, there is an ever-greater concentration of younger people and teenagers who are carrying knives.
"All too often you will see a phenomenon where there are three or four on one side having a fight with three or four on the other side - and they're carrying knives."
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The commissioner said there is "a huge amount" people who live in the capital need to do to tackle knife crime, before listing how she and her officers are preventing it.
"What you can see is more money going into diversion programmes. You can see us out on the streets more - we're growing," Dame Cressida explained.
"We target this crime more than anything else. You can see us smashing up gangs at an increased rate. I could go on."
She then said violence on the streets, including knife crime, is the Met's number one priority and that officers are "straining every sinew to reduce all violent crime... and bring people to justice".
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"We are seeing some very considerable results. If you look at robbery: reductions last year, reductions the year before. If you look at knife crime, likewise if you look at stabbings - non-fatal - of young people under 25: huge reductions. If you look at gun crime: huge reductions this year."
The Met chief then explained that the discharge of firearms between January and July this year was at its lowest level for a decade.
"We've closed 500 county lines, we've arrested over 1,000 line holders - that's highly associated with violence," she continued.
"Last week we had loads of drugs seizures - 182kg of cocaine in one seizure. You heard it here first, Nick."
The confiscation occurred in Coventry early last week and was a joint operation involving the Met and West Midlands Police.
Dame Cressida added: "In all the major categories you've seen reductions and record amounts of knives, guns, drugs and cash seized."
