Alarming rise in stabbing cases

Whilst I agree more police on the streets would help to prevent crime, I think quoting that New York achieved success with more police on the street does forget the fact that American police carry, and use, guns.

A multi-agency approach has got to be the best. Police, Community, ex gang members (for advice), local politicians. Govt policies have not helped: reduction in police numbers (and they are still to reduce budgets still further for the Met.), cuts in social services, cuts in education etc. etc.
We need to stop social media from showing gang violence, rethink our approach to drugs. I could go on......

oldwoman so what would you attribute Scotlands success to? Our police dont carry guns .Recently there was a delegation of American police personnel visiting our Police College ,as part of that visit they were driven around the streets of Glasgow on a Saturday night.They were amazed at how our police work...without resorting to vilence or guns.Thought the banter between drunks and police officers was astonishing and said that if a drunk had spoken to a PC in the states in that way he'd have been told to get on the ground and cuffed...or have a gun pointed at him.Not engaged in a jokey conversation .

After these men and women returned to America they published a report in the Washington Times about there visit and what they had learned from it .I think a lot can be learned from Glasgows approach to crime .The succes is proven .

I think Amber Rudd made a massive faux pas when she stated that she didn't see a connection between reduced policing and the rise in stabbings.

There are of course a lot of factors, as others have stated, I recently saw an interview with the father of a son left very disabled by a knife attack, he said he thought it was often the lack of a father being around that led young boys to attaching themselves at quite a young age to gangs. The void they experience is replaced by a sense of fraternity or extended family within the gang, whilst all the while they are insidiously drawn into a life of crime before they know it. As well as absent fathers there are of course a lack of male teachers in schools. Boys do need male role models. Into that mix there are also the violent videos on You Tube an outlet for pent up machismo and male bravado where gang members have a platform to boast about taking out opponents. I believe the Police have repeatedly asked for many of these to be taken down but many still remain

As per a previous post, David Lammy and his constituency is in the thick of it, stated that guns are very readily available through Albanian gang McMaffia trafficking. He also stated that some demographics may be desensitised to extreme violence as this may be part of life from where they came from.

Because of the sensitivity of race, maybe far more black police officers should be recruited to deal with the issue of gang warfare.

TerriBull, of course the Police should reflect the communities they serve. There are difficulties in recruiting, then retaining Police Officers from black and ethnic minority communities.
I don't believe that 'far more black police officers should be recruited to deal with the issue of gang warfare". I agree we need more black and ethnic minority police officers but to serve the whole community not only to focus on gang warfare.

That was worded clumsily, I didn't mean recruited to deal with gang warfare per se, but as you say Iam, to reflect the racial make up of the communities they are dealing with.