Lambeth has registered the most knife crime offences across all South London boroughs over the last two years.
Between January 2022 and January 2024, there were a total of 1,583 knife crime offences in the borough, 11 more than Croydon, the next highest on the list, according to data by the Metropolitan Police.
This information localises a worrying trend across the capital, with the total number of knife crime offences up by 11.4% between January of this year in comparison to last year.
Unsurprisingly, the south west boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames saw the least knife crime offences over the same period.
However, there are charities attempting to make changes across the capital.
CEO of the Ben Kinsella Trust Patrick Green spoke about the efforts the organisation is making to help combat knife crime.
The organisation uses the stories of real people to create exhibition models to help demonstrate and highlight to young people the devastating effects knife crime is having on communities.
Green believes earlier intervention in schools is the way forward in terms of preventing the matter, but also thinks that speaking to young people who are not currently at risk is a key part of preventing future incidents.
Green said: “Knife crime affects everybody. We are talking to young people that nobody is concerned about because most of the young people we talked to are in school.
“Many of them are not displaying behavioural problems but they absolutely deserve a conversation about knife crime.
“What we do is that we talk to young people earlier in the process and we can discover dysfunctional thinking around knife carrying much earlier, long before young people get themselves into trouble, long before young people are facing exclusion from school. “
Social media is becoming a key issue in the rise of knife crime with young people on social media platforms often being exposed to the horrific nature of the crime.
Green also highlighted his concerns on how easily young people are able to buy offensive weapons including zombie knives and machetes online without going through some form of age identification.
He believes that the only way to solve the issue is to have a complete ban on the online sales of both these weapons and has mentioned that young people involved in knife crime are more likely to be injured by these types of knives than any other.
He believes that the government needs to do more in terms of providing age identification on this and is working with the government to put through legislation in place as early as September.
The Ben Kinsella Trust were involved in a campaign earlier this year involving actor Idris Elba to encourage the government to take into consideration the ban of zombie knives and machetes as well as increased funding for youth centres in which has been on the end of cuts on a regular basis.
They are not the only organisation that have launched a campaign to combat knife crime as The Raheem Sterling Foundation last week introduced new knife amnesty bins across Brent to encourage the safe disposal of knives in the borough.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “Tackling violence remains a priority for the Met, and we know that reducing knife crime relies on combined work from communities and other agencies across London.
“Met officers are working with schools and charities to deliver youth engagement and diversion sessions, so that young people can understand the impact that knife crime and violence has within their local community. These sessions empower young people to report knife crime via CrimeStoppers anonymously.
“Our officers work hard to ensure that the streets of London are safe, by conducting regular weapon sweeps in crime hotspots, and by forming closer relationships with partners and our community to prevent crimes from happening in the first place.”
If you want to support the organisation in their efforts to combat knife crime you can do so on https://benkinsella.org.uk/
