‘Violence is a disease’: Islington Council launches five-year plan to tackle crime and drug-dealing across the borough

Islington’s community safety chief Cllr John Woolf. Photograph: Islington Council

“Violence is a disease and has no place in Islington,” declared John Woolf, the politician working to ensure community safety.

He said the council is committed to working with communities to prevent violent crime, which causes so much damage to those affected by it.

Islington was left reeling in the summer when teenager Deshaun Tuitt was fatally stabbed in Highbury Fields – witnessed by stunned onlookers.

He is among 11 teenagers who have been stabbed to death in London this year.

The council has launched its wide-ranging community safety strategy, which will see more people join the parent champions scheme to work with children and families, go into schools and talk to young people about the dangers of violence.

“A key part of the parent champions is listening and working in collaboration with teachers and giving parents the tools to raise awareness amongst their children of knife crime and exploitation,” said Cllr Woolf.

The council is also recruiting a young women’s worker to support women and girls affected by gangs or exploitation and to work with young women individually as well as speaking to schools and community groups.

Other steps include continuing the work to take weapons off the streets.

So far, more than 2,000 weapons have been taken off the streets of Islington through collection points at knife bins across the borough.

Plans also include getting more businesses to join the 120 shops and restaurants signed up to the Safe Haven scheme. This works by offering support to people who feel threatened, harassed or in danger, such as calling police or family and friends or letting the person asking for help inside.

Other work includes building on the violence against women and girls strategy, which sees housing teams help spread the message, and work to help prevent domestic violence.

It also features partnerships such as the No More Red campaign with Arsenal FC and schemes such as Ask Angela, which involves pubs and clubs offering support to people who ask staff for Angela.

The strategy for the next five years was drawn up after 700 residents responded to the council’s Safer Spaces consultation.

Cllr Woolf said the strategy, required by government, is a public health response to violence and sees the council working with police and other partners to clamp down on violence on the streets and behind closed doors at home.

He said: “Devastating events sends such ripples out to families and communities, it’s devastating and it really takes its toll.”

He said violence, like a disease, “is contagious” and he wants to ensure people feel safe in Islington.

“If anyone feels unsafe in the borough that affects us all,” he added.

“Violence is not an inevitability. No-one is safe until we are all safe.”

 Whilst crime in Islington dropped by 2.4 per cent between 2020 and 2021, Town Hall bosses said they were aware of the impact of the pandemic.

During the same period, sexual offences went up 29 per cent and domestic violence up one per cent.

The borough saw a 12.8 per cent drop in knife crime during that time.

However, Islington is still the tenth highest rate of knife crime in London.

The council’s violence reduction report describes the drugs trade as “a driver for serious violence and crime”.

The strategy aims to tackle the ways in which young people and vulnerable adults get exploited and used as couriers in the borough and across county lines.

According to the Metropolitan Police, 70 per cent of organised crime groups in Islington are involved in drugs and 51 per cent in acquisitive crime such as theft.

The council said “a relatively small number of individuals are directly involved”, but 31 per cent of residents “feel that gangs are a problem”.

The Town Hall has pledged to work to prevent those at risk, often from deprived areas or excluded from school, from getting caught up.

Work also includes focusing efforts on hotspots – places where the council has received six or more calls. There are a handful at any time – currently eight – and Cllr Woolf said work then goes into making those places safer.

He said the number of hotspots, often around transport hubs, has dropped.

“We are not complacent. We are working together to make our communities feel safe.”