Yahoo Finance Sadiq Khan unveils £6m plan to tackle violent crime
Sven Badzak died in Brent, one of the areas to be given funds by Sadiq Khan.
(Met police)Sadiq Khan today pledged to pump £6m into anti-violence schemes in crime hotspots across London.
The mayor’s intervention comes after a string of killings including the fatal stabbings of Tyreke Watson, 21 and Anas Mezenner, 17, on the same street in Tottenham.
The money will be distributed by the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) which works to tackle crime in the hardest hit communities.
Each group which successfully applied for the funding through the MyEnds programme will be given £750,000.
Some of the funds will go to Haringey where Mr Watson was stabbed to death in Monday. He was killed just yards from where Anas was attacked on West Green Road, on January 20.
Other areas to receive cash will be Brent where 16-year-old Drekwon Patterson was ambushed and stabbed to death last Thursday. He died in hospital after the attack near Preston Road tube station.
Another Brent victim, Sven Badzak, 22, was stabbed to death on Willesden Lane, on 6 February, while out shopping for his mother. There have been 18 murder investigations launched in the capital this year.
Communities in Lambeth, Hackney, Croydon, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Newham will also receive funds.
Mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “The underlying causes of crime are complex and deep-rooted, made worse by a decade of Government cuts to policing, youth clubs and community services.
“I’m committed to being tough on crime by investing more in policing than any other mayor, and tough on the causes of crime by funding hundreds of positive opportunities for young Londoners in high crime areas of the capital.”
Lib Peck, Director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, said: “We know that violence knows no border, and it’s not often focused on an entire borough or area of London.
“Instead, it tends to be very localised and concentrated on estates or small pockets of roads.
“Experience tells us that it’s often local people who know what’s best for improving the area they live and work in, and that’s why we’re supporting local people and local communities to help bring about change and provide better opportunities for young people.”
Chris Murray’s Young Brent Foundation is one of the groups to be awarded funds which will be used to tackle the causes behind violence in the community. The foundation is working with Goldsmith’s University to analyse the roots of violence in the area.
He said: “Why is it acceptable that carrying knives in some communities is seen as acceptable and others it is unacceptable? It should never be acceptable... we have had two killings recently.
“There is a lot of bravado among you people and some of these terrible incidents go into folklore. We cannot have this and must turn the tide in this behaviour.”
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