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Stop and search won’t halt street gang culture  Police
could soon get greater powers to try to stop increasing violence on the
streets. But community, not increased judicial powers is the only way
to stop gang culture argues PAUL DONOVAN.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT from Government that they are considering giving the
police increased stop and search powers smacks of desperation in the battle
to halt violence on the streets.
Again it would seem the Government has moved to address a social problem
with a criminal justice solution.
The proposition — drawn from a report by former Royal Ulster Constabulary
Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan — is that the power to stop
and search be extended in some areas.
There is also to be a reduction of red tape in terms of the requirement
to fill out a form explaining why the action was taken in the first place.
What must be remembered is the use of stop and search powers has helped
to alienate a number of communities.
Part of the reason that the form for recording details was introduced
related to the disproportionate use of the power against ethnic minority
groups like the Black, Asian and until recently Irish communities.
Black people remain seven times and Asian twice as likely to be stopped
and searched as white people.
Sir Ronnie himself should recall how the free use of a similar power to
stop and search people in the North of Ireland helped intensify the conflict
and lead to the alienation of large parts of the population there.
It seems incredible that rather than learn from this mistake the British
Government seems set on repeating it across the rest of Britain.
The stop and search moves smack of a populist response to the present
vista of violence on the streets.
This violence has claimed the lives of 27 teenagers over the past year.
Cecilia Taylor-Camara lives in an area where there have been two teenage
deaths in the past few weeks.
Boduka Louis Mudianga was killed near to her flat in Edmonton in north
London on January 21.
Cecilia said: “I’m fearful as a parent. I am always looking
behind me on the street.
“There are these clusters of boys — whether they are in gangs
or not I don’t know.”
She recalled a recent meeting at her local church where crime was the
main concern. “Guns, drugs, teenage pregnancies and peer group pressure
were all concerns raised,” she said.
No-one suggested new stop and search powers for the police were a solution.
London Citizens worker Catherine Howarth explained how violence on the
street has been a major subject coming up in a listening exercise conducted
by the organisation across the capital.
“Violence on the streets is a real concern, whether the threat is
real or perceived,” she said.
“There have been a lot of violent incidents.”
There is certainly a growing concern about gang violence in London.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith recently expressed her feeling of insecurity
on the streets.
“Certainly something needs to be done to address the problem which
is not exclusive to the capital.
“There have been similar killings in other parts of the country
such as Liverpool and Manchester — though not in the same numbers.”
Many people seem to be searching around for a reason as to why violence
has escalated in this way.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone recently blamed the horrendous levels of
glamourised violence in cinemas and on TV.
“This is the generation whose parents grew up in the ’80s
— get your snout in the trough and it doesn’t matter a damn
about anyone else,” said Mr Livingstone.
Family and community breakdown are no doubt powerful drivers in the proliferation
of gangs and violence.
Gangs no doubt offer a strange antidote to the breakdown of traditional
community. The sense of camaraderie and belonging that used to exist in
communities through family, schools, clubs and churches has disappeared.
However, human beings need to be part of a group. The absence of traditional
community models results in other constructions like gangs filling the
void.
The gangs no doubt offer a feeling of belonging, maybe missing elsewhere.
It is just the results that are so horrific.
Ex-New York gang member Sergio Argueta said as much when he recently spoke
to some east London schoolchildren. He told how kids turn to gangs out
of a need to belong and due to the glamour involved.
“You are no different from our kids who also suffer a void and emptiness
in their lives,” he said.
“Young people feel nobody cares, listens and they feel alone.
“I was that kid, misguided, didn’t know better, what if they
offered alternatives? New schoolbooks, new sports centres — what
if someone said don’t fall for this hip hop MTV stuff?”
Unfortunately, the main response of Government to crime and violence has
been to look to the criminal justice system for answers.
Prior to stop and search came the announcement of the building of three
super prisons housing 2,500 prisoners each — further evidence that
those in Government see the only answer to the problem as being to lock
up more people.
This has been proven time and time again not to be a solution.
As the emphasis of the prison system has moved toward security at the
cost of rehabilitation so problems are being stored up for the future.
The prisons are universities of crime where minor criminals graduate to
become major criminals by honing their skills.
As former Prisons Inspector Sir David Ramsbotham said: “With the
exception of a handful all of these prisoners will come out one day and
be living next to you or I.”
The solution to violence on the streets is not to be found with the criminal
justice system.
The police, courts and prisons cannot stop the violence, they merely deal
with the consequences.
The feeling among people on the streets of Edmonton is that people must
take responsibility for what is going on.
This is no doubt true but there also has to be a recognition from Government
of the need to start rebuilding communities across the country.
Support for the family and genuine community-building initiatives must
play the major role, not stopping and searching or locking up more people.
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