Children have become desensitised to knife crime in Croydon as crime rates escalate. Since being stuck with the unwanted badge of knife crime capital in 2021, things seemed to be getting better for Croydon with no teenage deaths from knife crime in 2022.
But already this year things have taken a turn for the worse.
Community leaders, businesses and parents are increasingly concerned due to the sharp rise in crime in the last month and say the historic conservation area of Church Street is becoming a new hub for violence.
In the last month, four young people have been stabbed, one person has been shot and two firearms have been discharged.
Anthony King, youth worker, says the problem is that young people are becoming ‘desensitised’. ‘It’s like going to McDonald’s. It’s like going to a shop, hearing of another stabbing. It’s just a part of the norm for young people’
Lorraine Dudek, the mother of a 14-year old schoolboy who was stabbed to death outside Croydon railway station has called for tougher laws on knife crime. She says ‘there’s a horrendous mentality amongst young people in Croydon, with a lack of regard for life.’
She added that ‘massive numbers’ of children carried weapons and that the level of aggression in Croydon was not seen in other London boroughs.
Both Ms Dudek and Mr King point out that even though there are opportunities and good support for young people in Croydon, there is still a rise in gang culture, and pressure to reap the rewards of living ‘the street life.’
Mr King says ‘I’ve had a young person tell me: ‘...if I can make £4,000 a week from selling drugs, why would I want to make £10 an hour’.
The gang drug culture, lack of regard for life and desensitivity is making a breeding ground for a growing acceptance of knife crime in Croydon.
However, organisations such as Mainzworld are aiming to change this. James Watkins from Mainzworld intends to reduce crime around Church Street by engaging with the young people from schools and bringing them to a hub with activities.
Anthony says that there has been a new local youth hub provided and that community leaders, church leaders and headmasters are coming together.
He says the VRU (the violence reduction unit) is doing a good job at educating both parents and children around the negatives with living the ‘street life’.
In terms of what more needs to be done, his recommendation is ‘check your child before they leave their house, if a bread knife is missing, you have got to check your child’ He also wants to encourage businesses to take children on, to offer them opportunities.
Lorraine will forever live with this tragedy, although she has at least seen her sons killer in court confess to the crime but says she ‘observed he showed no sense of shame’.
