And in addition to my previous post, this is the statement issued by the Mayor of London in response to a petition, which I for one signed, for him and Amber Rudd to act on working towards tackling London's increasing gun and knife crime:
"Sadiq Khan’s response
Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
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10 APR 2019 — Dear Petitioner,
Thank you for the petition submitted on the change.org website about your concerns around rising knife crime.
The Mayor understands your concerns and has made tackling violence a key priority. He has been clear that the levels of violence, which have risen in London and around the country, are too high. Every life lost to violence is a tragedy and every injury has serious impacts on those affected and touches London’s wider communities.
The Mayor has urged the Government to reverse the £850 million of cuts forced on the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), because of Government underfunding. The MPS has already had to make significant cuts since 2013-14 and will be required to reduce expenditure by a further £263 million by 2022-23.
To make up for these cuts the Mayor has recently announced through his budget that he will be giving an additional £234 million for policing and tackling crime. This includes the £95 million announced earlier in the budget process which has been funded mostly from an 11% increase to the Mayor’s council tax policing precept which is an equivalent of 46p a week. These funds will be used to enable the police to carry out the vital work of protecting our city, through initiatives like the Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF) which enables the MPS to be even more proactive on the streets of the capital, bearing down on violent crime and serious criminality.
The VCTF has already achieved a number of successes, between its launch in in April 2018 and February 2019, the taskforce has carried out 5,910 weapons sweeps, recovered 610 knives, 450 offensive weapons, 230 firearms and arrested 3,049 suspects.
However, the Mayor is aware that enforcement is not the only solution and therefore he has committed £6.8 million to establish a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). The VRU will include specialists in health, youth and social services to lead a long-term public health approach to tackle the causes of violent crime. The VRU will build on the approaches taken in Glasgow, where a similar approach has delivered large reductions in violence over the past decade.
In addition, the Mayor has also created the Young Londoners Fund (YLF) to help London’s children and young people fulfil their potential, particularly those at risk of getting caught up in crime. The Mayor’s initial investment of £45 million into the YLF will support a range of education, sport and cultural activities for children and young people, at a time when government cuts have had a devastating impact on the preventative and youth services which we need to keep our city safe.
Finally, the Mayor’s ongoing social media campaign LondonNeedsYouAlive #LNYA raises awareness of the consequences of knife crime and provides reassurance and advice for people who are concerned about someone’s involvement in knife crime. A toolkit has been developed for schools, colleges, community groups, parents and others to make use of the campaign’s materials. More details about this, and other work carried out by the Mayor’s Office, can be found on the City Hall website through the following link: www.london.gov.uk/london-needs-you-alive.
Taken together, this short-term enforcement by the police and long-term preventative activity in London will deliver a relentless focus on tackling knife crime and violence across the capital.
Once again, thank you for petitioning about this important issue. I hope that this provides some reassurance that the Mayor is committed to doing all he can to tackle the rise in knife crime in London and making London an even safer place for all.
Yours sincerely
Public Liaison Unit
Greater London Authority"[/i][/b]
So, once more I would stress that the mayor is not "useless" and is in fact actively spending additional funds in his budget to increase police numbers (not enough of other leaders are actually doing this) and other initiatives to tackle the challenge.
But, hey, let's not let facts get in the way of being negative and insulting!
Some of us actually make an effort to take the practical action we can and not print untruths/twaddle whilst doing nothing to help