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From left Natalie Ademakihwa, Amir Deng and Natasha Ademakihwa
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'Bin the blades' call after fatal stabbings
Third death sparks teenagers’
knife amnesty appeal
TEENAGERS have been urged to give up their knives in a bid
to prevent further stabbing tragedies on Camden’s streets.
The Red Hot Greens – a volunteer youth project based in
Gospel Oak – wants a knife amnesty to be set up as soon
as possible.
Group member Natalie Ademakinwa, 18, said: “We want there
to be a secure box where you can just drop any weapon and get
rid of it.
“It is getting too much in Camden at the moment. Lots of
teenagers have knives. It is because they are scared. But if
they care about another man’s life they should give them
up and not carry knives. There is too much knife crime.”
After three fatal stabbings in Camden in just four weeks, there
have been several calls for youths to be given the chance to
bin their blades.
Ms Ademakinwa added: “The amnesty would have to be done
where there is no CCTV, not at a police station or anything
like that. We don’t want youths to feel they will get in
trouble if they give up their knives. They won’t be questioned,
just get rid of them.”
The possibility of a knife amnesty was raised after the deaths
of Amanda Cummins, 27, in Camden Town at Christmas and Tommy
Winston, 18, in Kentish Town early last month. Both died from
knife wounds.
Pressure for an amnesty was intensified by the fatal stabbing
of Mahir Osman, 18, in Camden Town two weeks ago.
Kentish Town councillor Dave Horan said at last Monday’s
full council meeting: “Perhaps we could follow other cities
and have a knife amnesty through the police. We will never entirely
eradicate crime and the fear of crime but we need to liaise
with the police and schools to increase knife awareness. It
is a way of publicising the problem.”
Senior Labour councillor Julian Fulbrook said: “We have
been doing knife awareness with police. We will give an undertaking
to talk to police immediately to see what we as a council can
do to help.”
In neighbouring Islington, knife disposal bins are being set
up in police stations in Islington and Holloway. Weapons can
be dumped there on a “no questions asked” basis, police
said.
Portable, airport-style scanners are also being used in Islington
in a bid to root out people carrying knives in the streets.
Sergeant Paul Colwill said he would rather teenagers took up
karate if they felt they needed to protect themselves, rather
than arming themselves with blades.
Launching Operation Blunt – a drive to convince youngsters
to turn their backs on knife crime – he said: “I find
it quite worrying that young people are under the impression
they can carry knives for self-defence. They might feel endangered
if they are the victims of crime and that they need to arm themselves.
But quite the opposite is true.” |
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