Students advised as violence rises

by Ruth Reyes and Alice Parfrement

Students at the University of the Arts London (UAL) have been warned to “be aware of your personal safety’’ and to ‘‘stay alert’’, as violent crime statistics have risen following the recent deaths of 11 young people. 

Eight out of the 11 teenage murder victims this year have been stabbed, despite the number of violent crimes falling by five per cent over the last three years.

A UAL student services spokesperson said: ‘‘It is important for you to stay alert and be aware of what’s going on around you.

"Make sure you know where you are going and how to get there. Avoid walking home late at night, listen to your instincts and don’t take any risks.’’

Attacked

On May 5, Nick Pearton, 16, was chased by a mob of up to 10 youths, who attacked him with knives and baseball bats in a park in Sydenham, south London.

Pearton died shortly afterwards in hospital. Seven youths were arrested in connection with his death.

19 year old Marcin Bilaszewski, was stabbed on May 8 outside Finsbury Park Tube station, making it the second stabbing death involving a teenager in the capital within three days - and the eighth consecutive murder in less than seven weeks.

Finsbury park local and a former London College of Communication student Suki Cohn, told Arts London News: "I think that it's just the culture of today, kids are so violent because of what they see. It's all about nature versus nurture - kids see violence, grow up around it and think it’s acceptable."

UAL student Selin Sarialtin does not feel too concerned by knife crime personally but knows that it is a big problem: “It’s not really affecting me but I’ve heard others being affected by it like some of my friends in East London.’’

‘‘A group of gangs just randomly took out a knife and stabbed my friend then laughed about it. They see it as a joke. He’s in prison now,” she added.

Crime crisis

There was a fall in the number of homicide offences involving a knife or other sharp instrument - down from 270 to 252 - between 2007 and 2009, but a rise in the number of attempted murders involving a knife - up from 245 to 271 offences - according to the British Crime Survey.

Police took action two years ago in a bid to curb the dramatic rise in teenage killings, with new measures such as an increase in stop and search – which allows police to randomly stop and search people for weapons, as well as metal detectors being used at some schools and colleges.

A Metropolitan Police Officer who chose to remain anonymous said: “It’s hard really as police have to work within a system that has limits.

"We would come into trouble if we had everyone on a curfew and searched everyone. A lot goes into it, and it gets pushed as far as we’re able."

When asked about why youths get involved in knife crime, the officer said: “It’s about bravado with them; there is no need for the killing. People are stopped, arrested, convicted, but you can’t stop fights that you don’t know about."

"Plus you can’t stop and search every kid in London at the same time, and that would be bad. Most knives on kids are from kitchens.”

Gangs

There seems to be a correlation between the escalating violence and the spread of youth gangs across the capital and UK.

Finsbury Park resident, and a teacher in the area, Matthew Huff, said: "The way kids act in schools is abysmal, they can be rude and cruel in the way they speak - I'm not surprised youth gang violence is spreading."

Two weeks ago, another boy was stabbed in south London, after going to a park to help his fellow gang members in a staged brawl.

Robert Vital, a 20 year old Lambeth resident said he wasn’t too worried for himself in regards to being a victim of violent crime: “it’s all between them, the people that get stabbed that are not involved were in the wrong place at the wrong time, sometimes you cant help that. But they’re not all out to get us.”

Ciara Quilty-Harper, a resident in South Tottenham, and a University of the Arts student, said: "I’m not so worried about knife crime for myself. It's generally gang related anyway, they usually keep it towards themselves.”

No knives

Other attempts to help combat crime amongst youths are anti-knife crime projects/charities such as ‘No Knives More Lives’ and ‘Foundation 4 Life’.

Unfortunately, many of these are being forced to close due to a lack of funding.

Last year, the Home Office spent £5 million on high profile schemes like these but no announcements for funding have been made yet this year.

Voluntary youth organisation, 'Rathbone', which is funded by the Home Office, were told they would only get funding for the first year but with spending cuts neither charitable foundations nor local authorities are able to pay for the projects to continue.

LCC student, Sonya Hau, believes that more can be done to prevent knife crime: “Maybe there could be more youth centres. There should be more for young people and more activities for them. I think celebrities are a big influence so maybe get celebrities involved.”

UAL annually organises sessions with local community police officers during freshers week to provide students with safety advice. In addition UAL also offer the opportunity for counselling for students who have been affected by knife crime.

“If a student’s witnessed or been affected by a stabbing, we would encourage them to seek professional help as soon as possible as it’s common to suffer from post-traumatic stress following an incident such as this,’’ said the UAL student services spokesperson.

‘‘If you’ve been affected you can contact Student Services on 020 7514 6230, and book an urgent appointment with a member of the Counselling, Health or Disability team," they added.

"During the appointment we will assess if longer term counselling is required, what family support you have, if your tutors need to be informed or extenuating circumstances should be applied for, and discuss various ways of coping with stress.”