NEWS DESK

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson visited Mile End Tube station Tuesday to meet police officers at work on the anti-knife crime operation, Blunt 2.

During the visit the Mayor called on the Government to do more to enable the police to track people through the criminal justice system and said he would raise the matter with Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith MP when they meet on Thursday. Concerns have been raised about the lack of connection between police and court records to track individual offenders.

Operation Blunt 2 was launched on May 15th 2008 to tackle the unacceptable levels of serious youth violence with knives being carried and used on London's streets. In just seven weeks 1437 people were arrested for possession of weapons and other knife-related crimes, 32,395 searches were conducted and 731 knives recovered by the police in London.

On Friday 4th July the Mayor backed the Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) decision to establish a dedicated 75-strong Blunt 2 taskforce to bear down on youth knife crime.

Boris Johnson said,
“I am delighted the Met have responded to the challenge of knife crime and have made this a top priority.
‘Operation Blunt 2 is clearly an important part of the fight back against the terrible scourge of knife crime, with 1437 arrests and 731 knives seized since it was launched just seven weeks ago. And I back the police’s decision to charge rather than caution the vast majority of young people found with knives.

'I have serious concerns about lack of connection between police and court records to track individual offenders and that the police cannot often track those who have been charged. I raised this with the Justice Secretary last week and will raise this with the Home Secretary when I meet her on Thursday.  

‘It concerns me greatly that despite the police arresting and prosecuting more people for knife related offences they are not tracked within the criminal justice system.

'We are doing all we can to tackle both the symptoms and the longer term root causes of knife crime and violence amongst young people. Everyone has a role to play. We will only succeed if we all work together and everyone, including central government, takes responsibility for this urgent issue.”