A tale of two knives: A sad but telling irony occurred in London this week.
First, the British Home Office (roughly equivalent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) released a new labeling system for fast food boxes at chicken restaurants. Inscribed with the hashtag #KnifeFree, the boxes carry stories of young people who stopped carrying knives. The hope is that these boxes will encourage other young people to stop carrying knives. Chicken restaurants are traditional gathering spots for young urban Britons.
Then, on Thursday, a man was stabbed just outside of the Home Office headquarters. Fortunately he survived and the suspected perpetrator was arrested.
Still, this tale of two knife-related stories speaks to something: The government remains largely delusional about confronting the knife crime epidemic now seizing Britain’s streets.
As with much of the violent crime in U.S. African American communities, a key driver of British knife crime is cultural. The police are neither feared nor respected, and too many young men and teenagers view knives as a legitimate means of protecting their interests and honor. Hashtags on chicken boxes will do little to nothing to address this issue.
Beyond the personal disregard for lives lost at the hands of knives, the violence is driven by gang wars for control of a lucrative drugs trade. But the policing issue is central to addressing the crime issue. While new prime minister Boris Johnson has pledged to increase police numbers, British police also need to invest more in counter-gang and counter-organized crime operations. With weak penetration of the gangs controlling the drug trade, the police have limited means of monitoring and intercepting attackers before they strike.
More armed police officers also need individual patrols to maximize their effect.
But the basic point is simple: There’s a very telling irony between this week’s chicken box stupidity and Thursday’s stabbing. The incidents prove that the agency most responsible for addressing this crisis needs a major shakeup.
