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‘They're agile on issues they care about’: Idris Elba suggests government cares more about XL bullies than knife crime
27 April 2024, 07:30 | Updated: 27 April 2024, 10:56
Idris Elba has suggested that the government applies more ‘focused thinking’ on tackling XL bullies than on the issue of knife crimes.
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His comments came after being presented with new LBC analysis back in January, which revealed that five children per day were arrested for carrying a knife in 2023, including children aged 10 - the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
According to LBC's findings, published for the first time today, around 1,500 children aged 16 and under were arrested for the possession of a knife or other sharp implements such as screwdrivers, carving forks or shards of glass over the first ten months of 2023.
The data is based on responses to Freedom of Information requests from 38 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales.
Mr Elba launched his ‘Don’t Stop Your Future’ campaign earlier this year, which aims to reduce the number of young people losing their lives to knife crime.
Idris Elba speaks on his #DontStopYourFuture campaign
His efforts have helped to expedite the ban on so-called “Zombie knives”, which are due to be outlawed in England and Wales from September.
The Luther star said: “We know our government can be agile when it comes to issues they really care about, like border control or XL bullies [where] you see some real focused thinking.”
But Mr Elba contended that when it comes to knife crime, that same level of focus has not always been displayed “because it’s for some reason [characterised] as a London problem, or an ethnic problem… Come on, let’s just knock [the excuses] off now. Too many young people are dying from this - it is young people - [and] one of those young people could change the fabric of the country in the future - we’ve got to protect them.”
Concerns around teenagers carrying knives surfaced once again earlier this week, after a thirteen-year-old girl was charged with three counts of attempted murder following an attack at Amman Valley School in south Wales.
Government figures also suggest that teachers are increasingly having to confront students wielding weapons in school.
According to the most recent findings from the Department of Education, the number of students who were suspended for using or threatening to use knives rose to around 4,700 in the spring term of 2022 - an increase of over 200 incidents compared to the previous year.
Separately, a survey of students across England found fewer than two in five children say they always feel safe at school.
Responding to LBC’s figures, Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: “There are a number of strategies that are being shared between schools and police forces where there is training that takes place to support teachers in the use of metal-detecting wands.
“It’s possible for staff, where necessary, to use the wands to see whether or not a metal object is being carried by an individual or a young person in a school. We need to say this is used in rare occasions, and they’re often used when suspicion is aroused. Young people will inform a member of staff and let people know if they feel somebody is carrying an object they shouldn’t be.”
On Thursday, the Office For National Statistics published figures which showed a 7% increase in knife offences over the course of 2023, with the West Midlands and Metropolitan Police having the two highest rates per capita.
These statistics were reflected in LBC’s findings. In the West Midlands, 207 children were arrested for being in possession of a knife, while 201 youngsters were apprehended by the Metropolitan police.
In London alone, 18 teenagers were stabbed to death last year.
Kevin Hurley, who headed the Metropolitan Police’s anti-knife crime operation ‘Blunt’, told LBC that there needs to be a greater use of stop-and-search powers, which have been criticised for disproportionately targeting minority communities.
He said: “Everyone says ‘why is that only 12-15% of the people you stop and search result in an arrest?’ [but] the real impact of stop and search is it creates a deterrent to people to carry illegal goods or carrying weapons.
“It’s the deterrent effect to people of carrying things that counts. Nobody measures that, and I don’t think there’s any realistic way of doing that other than saying we know stop and search arrests have dropped drastically, but youth murder and youth stabbing is still a big problem.”
Responding to the figures, a Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has some of the strongest anti-knife laws in the world, and since 2019 we have taken 138,000 weapons off our streets, but we are determined to do more to end this senseless violence.
“We are also toughening sentences for anyone caught with a banned weapon or found selling knives to under-18s, and are giving police new powers to seize any knife if they believe it might be used in criminality”.
