To tackle knife violence quickly we need to speak to the key figures of these gangs (Photo: PA)

The West Midlands saw a horrific weekend of drive-by shootings, knife attacks, and murder. Just yesterday I heard the news that a man had been stabbed in the chest just five minutes away from where I live.

In London, it’s been even worse with five unrelated murders over the last week. It would seem as though as a country we have lost our mind and we do not have the slightest clue how to address the issue.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, plans to deliver a public health approach to deal with the issue by establishing a Violence Reduction Unit of specialists in health, police and local government.



This is a long-term approach – even Khan has said it will take a generation to fix the problem – which I feel is required, but with all the madness over the last week, it is clear to see a lot more needs to be done right now.


For me, this means urgently speaking with prominent figures in the communities affected by this violence with the support of government and local authorities, and empowering them to make changes.

We are doing this in Birmingham and the West Midlands in a partnership led by the Police Crime Commissioner with local community groups and organisations – a partnership I am myself involved in.

When thinking about the effect this work can have I look back on my own experiences in gangs and the work I do now – especially the filming of the Channel 4 documentary One Mile Away and the campaign we did around it in 2012-14.

Sadiq Khan’s public health approach to knife crime is right but something needs to be done now (Photo: PA)

We followed the members of two rival gangs in their efforts to forge a truce and bring an end to decades of violence between the two. Through the documentary and the campaign we were able to influence massive drops on violent crime in this area of the city.

How was it done? The main thing was dialogue, which was taking place between key figures and leaders on all sides involved in the problem.

Due to continuous conversation, many small incidents – which may have led to serious violence – were able to be talked down. This allowed a period of calm, enabling perceptions to change. This would have been the best time to implement other provisions to address issues of deprivation, poor environment, and the negative mindset or culture, which are the root causes to the problems we seek to address.

This could be done now by giving key figures within communities the responsibility of being positive role models engaging with young people out on the streets, in schools and in youth centres; having the right relationships with the right people to be effective mediators and with a little training, mentors.

We did this on a small scale with the One Mile Away Social Enterprise and for a while helped to maintain a low level of violence. A team funded to do a similar sort of work on a larger scale I think would help the immediate situation a great deal.



The key figures I would use are young men and women who are close to the problem, have themselves been affected by it and want to see things change – whether it be in their own lives or community.

I would empower them with the knowledge and resources to do this work.

I would use this method not only stop the senseless murders but also as a pathway for young people to turn their lives around. It’s important for young people to be supported by those who have a total understanding through shared experience of the issues they face, and the journey they must take to come away from those issues.

There are many young men, women, groups, and organisations across the country that are in a position to affect change because of how close they are to the problem.

Many of them do whatever positive work they can with a few or no resources. This makes the job near to impossible.

I believe the best immediate response we could have is to give those people on the ground and those who want to turn their lives around the sufficient resources and support to make a positive impact.

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