Press silence over gun incident
Suppressing the facts won’t work. Violent crime will only be stopped if the police are made accountable.
Two vicious assaults took place in the same week on Greater Leys at the beginning of the year. Both incidents—a cowardly gang attack on a 19 year-old lad outside the Spar shop and a doorstep knifing that would have likely caused the death of another young man without the speedy efforts of paramedics—were heavily covered in the local media.
However, the press account of the first attack, at least, is questionable. The assault, in which a brick was smashed into the face of the young man and part of his ear torn off, was reported but what happened next was curiously omitted from the newspaper story.
According to eyewitnesses, two men intervened to help the victim and succeeded in literally knocking out two of the attackers. All well and good you may think. So why was this inspiring example of residents fighting back left out by the local press?
This is not unprecedented. Unfortunately the media seem more interested in portraying working class residents as passive victims rather than reporting anything that may encourage people to challenge those hell-bent on disrupting our lives.
Threatened with a gun
Yet the next part of the story is of more immediate concern. The Leys Independent has learned that on seeing his mates knocked out, one of the other gang members pulled out a gun before making his exit. Both the press and police are aware of allegations that a gun was produced but both are apparently reluctant to share this information with Leys residents.
If the gun had been used and the brave Samaritans had been injured (or worse), there is no doubt that we would have been saturated with warnings about the consequences of standing up for yourself and others.
Without this angle, however, it seems the press has instead decided to bury the news that an identifiable individual is at large on our estate with a firearm. Surely this is highly irresponsible to say the least.
But these events also highlight the need on Blackbird Leys for an accountable police force. Thames Valley Police says it takes incidents involving firearms very seriously but on several occasions it has been seen to take little or no action in response to reports of guns being brandished.
With limited resources available and with PCSOs all too often assigned to patrol the streets instead of police officers, the priority often seems to be containing crime on the Leys rather than making serious attempts to deal with it.
Common sense politics required
Despite claims by the police that crime is falling on Blackbird Leys and regardless of the hard work done by the IWCA in tackling drug dealing and other antisocial behaviour, there is a general unease that the estate, in line with society as a whole, is becoming a more dangerous place to live.
The extent of the drug dealing problem may have been reduced and residents may now feel more empowered to get something done about antisocial behaviour but gun and knife crime, as typified by the two incidents mentioned above, seems to be on the increase.
Yet neither of these incidents came completely out of the blue. To some extent they were preventable and this is where politics—and in particular the pro-working class, common sense politics of the IWCA—comes into play.
The Spar attack happened after the police had ignored ongoing complaints from neighbouring residents about intimidating gangs of youths hanging around the shop. Concerns that the largely unnecessary late-night closing of the shop has created a magnet for trouble were also dismissed.
Likewise, one of those who nearly stabbed the young man to death on Norman Smith Road in the most recent incident was out on police licence for similar offences.
In yet another recent example showing how violent crime and antisocial behaviour can be prevented, when the IWCA organised a meeting to address the problems caused by a teenage gang operating from a Frys Hill address—attended by the city council, housing associations, police and 25 affected residents—it emerged that the council had re-housed the main problem family on the Leys, knowing they had been responsible for similar antisocial behaviour at their former address.
Put simply, if the authorities had been doing their jobs properly and had actually listened and acted on residents concerns, the violent assaults and other acts of intimidation and vandalism may have been prevented. This is straightforward but the authorities either don’t get it or just don’t see crime prevention on Blackbird Leys as a priority.
It is therefore vital that we continue to do all we can to put pressure on the authorities to take these incidents seriously. That is why the IWCA takes a robust stance when it comes to the police—they are there to serve the people and need to be reminded of this. Other political parties may be happier cosying up to the police and even promote this as a virtue but their track record shows that, in terms of addressing residents main concerns, this simply doesn’t get results.
Update: As the Leys Independent goes to press we learn of yet another stabbing on Greater Leys. The victims this time are two mental health workers, attacked while on duty at an address in Dunnock Way. While this incident throws up a number of issues of concern it would be unfair to speculate until the full facts are known.
Leys Independent, issue 38, February 2008
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