Today I attended an excellent Labour event which looked at Gang Crime in the UK and how it could be tackled to avoid our young people becoming further caught up in it. Leading the event, alongside Brent Councillor Zaffar Vankala and Neil Coyle (PPC for Southwark) was Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention Steve Reed MP.
What was most striking about the event was the number of young people (and staff members) who felt that they had been here before. And by here I’m referring to sitting in a room, with politicians, the police and the media talking about the same issues and problems relating to gangs that they’ve been talking about for years.
What participants expressed more than anything else was that actual actions had to come from these discussions, because another talking shop simply takes time away from those trying to deal with the problems on the ground.
It is hard to give an overview of the root causes for young people’s involvement in gangs but similar themes kept cropping up; the main of these was around aspiration and direction.
From the discussions I was involved with it seemed that young people not feeling like that had a direction or achievable goals in front of them was a major factor in their decision to join a gang. Young people want to look ahead of them and see a future which is full of opportunities and prospects, the reality for many is that this just isn’t the case. Just like everyone else when faced with these problems you look around for safety and security; unfortunately for them this is often only found from being part a gang.
For many young people who become caught up in gangs, choice doesn’t even play a part at all. One account today spoke of young people being placed in a position where they were either “with us or against us” when it comes to growing up around gangs. This should not be the dilemma which our young people are exposed to.
A lot of the solutions spoke towards creating more opportunities and avenues for young people to gain meaningful employment and appropriate education to steer them away from gangs being the only foreseen option in front of them. However there are a number of things which can be done to address these issues outside of employment and education, and I wanted to highlight a few which came through today:
- Projects which are owned and delivered by the community work more effectively
- Early intervention through schools with young people as early as primary age
- Long term investment in projects that will tackle the issue over time and be given time to achieve outcomes
- Working with gangs as a whole as well as with members individually
- Policy which reflects both early intervention and the need for tackling the current problem
These suggestions will not solve all the problems but they – like the event as a whole – are a good start in trying to address the problems we face with gangs.
Coming away from the event I was struck by a question one of the young people asked – “why is so much money spent preventing terrorism when gang related violence has claimed far more lives?” – the discussion coming away from this question would be that if a prevent agenda was adopted which mirrored that of the anti-terrorism work carried out by the police, would we ultimately have fewer lives lost? Could this be the radical model going forward in tacking gang crimes?
The process for engaging in these discussions is ongoing and I’m excited about the prospect of Labour doing exactly what the participant said earlier on – listening to the people actually dealing with these issues and then doing what is suggested. From the passion shown by Steve and his team today, this looks set to happen.
An interesting piece. I hope you manage to initiate some of the steps suggested. As a primary school teacher, I fully agree that early intervention is crucial and it’s essential that it continues as children move up through schools.