Additional reporting by Joely Santa Cruz.
Multiple weapon searches and successful stop and search arrests took place last week in Islington as part of a national police campaign, Operation Sceptre, to tackle rising knife crime.
Twice a year, forces rally together to use a number of strategies, including raising awareness and “target[ing] habitual knife carriers,” according to the National Police Chief’s Council. Islington Police partnered with the wider Central North team to conduct weapons sweeps, community patrols and conduct stop and search.
This week, we have seen a combined effort from both the public and police as part of #OpSceptre ?????
Together we send a unified message that one life lost is one too many ?? https://t.co/6NY1xDtEUz pic.twitter.com/Z5w17YQjiA
— Islington Police (@MPSIslington) November 15, 2020
Tactics used in Islington as part of Operation Sceptre include knife arches outside of Highbury and Islington station; daily weapon sweeps of public places, stop and searches, and social media campaigns. The operation has received praise from politicians, including Priti Patel, and officers. But not everyone hails it as a resounding success, with anti-knife crime charities calling for more collaboration and resources.
Knife Crime in Islington
Islington is no stranger to the affliction of knife crime. In 2008, Ben Kinsella was celebrating his GCSE results on North Road when he was senselessly killed, sparking a national conversation about knife crime and sentencing. Despite knife offences being slightly lower than the previous year in Islington, the issue is far from resolved.
Islington ranks 13th highest for knife offences among London boroughs. 553 were recorded in Islington in the year ending March 2020, with 112 of those resulting in injury to the victim. In 2020 to September, two homicides attributed to knives were recorded. Most recently, 18-year-old Kamal Nuur tragically lost his life in Cally on the 14 September, bringing total knife deaths in Islington to three so far in 2020.
Anti Knife Charity Projects
Camara Fearon, from weapons surrender charity Word 4 Weapons, says: “It would be ideal to have the arches in collaboration with our knife bin initiative – giving people the opportunity to safely dispose of a knife before putting themselves and others at risk.”
The charity has helped to install seven new knife bins across Islington in the last two years, after a first bin installed in Tollington in 2018 collected over 1,000 knives in the first six months. However, she adds, this is not enough in isolation. We need more “partnership” between the “many organisations” tackling knife crime. The charity is calling on the government to put at least three bins in each London borough and for education on knife crime to become “a vital part of the solution”.
Islington Council, Met Police and The Ben Kinsella Trust partnered up last year to introduce the country’s first ‘No Knife Shop’ scheme. The scheme encourages local businesses not to sell knives in store unless it is an integral part of their business.
Patrick Green, CEO of The Ben Kinsella Trust, an anti-knife crime charity championing education and awareness campaigns, said that focus should be on prevention. He explained that charities, councils and police need more “resources as a collective” to tackle knife crime as a public health issue. Patrick acknowledges that we “know what we need to do”, referring to the successes of Violence Reduction Units In Scotland over the last decade, and states that force must be a “last resort”.
