Knife crime - is it really a problem outside London?

s.a.u

Can someone enlighten me on this? Growing up I probably heard one rumor about someone I knew of being allegedly stabbed. How big of a problem is knife crime really, and is it the case outside London?

Reply 1

Thepizzawaffle

Original post by s.a.u

Can someone enlighten me on this? Growing up I probably heard one rumor about someone I knew of being allegedly stabbed. How big of a problem is knife crime really, and is it the case outside London?

Yes especially in Croydon :frown:

Reply 2

0lut0

Any type of violent crime usually happens in cities so I expect places like Birmingham and Manchester to have some knife/gun crime going on. I know Birmingham has a lot of knife/gun crime because its kind of similar to London the way things operate.

Reply 3

hannah00

The key to not being a victim of knife crime is pretending to be undercover cop.

Everytime I think someone is following me, I start playing radio sounds of my iphone

Reply 4

londonmyst

Knife crime seems to be the British equivalent of America's gun violence.
It seems that London has the highest UK number of reported attack and deaths.

But there are other regions of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland with a reputation for knife violence.
Friends tell me that parts of Manchester, Croydon, Liverpool, Glasgow and Belfast all have a big problem too.

Original post by s.a.u

Can someone enlighten me on this? Growing up I probably heard one rumor about someone I knew of being allegedly stabbed. How big of a problem is knife crime really, and is it the case outside London?

Reply 5

Maths&physics

Original post by hannah00

The key to not being a victim of knife crime is pretending to be undercover cop.

Everytime I think someone is following me, I start playing radio sounds of my iphone

surely no one is stupid enough to fall for that!

Reply 6

hannah00

Original post by Maths&physics

surely no one is stupid enough to fall for that!

haha

The goal is to not become an easy target so they pick someone else. Creating doubt is a winning strategy

Reply 7

s.a.u

Original post by Volibear

When did you 'grow up'? Anyone growing up now would, in the future, recall a lot of knife crime whilst they were growing up.

Well I’m 24 now

Reply 8

Notoriety

It is a problem in most places, except we don't make a song and dance out of it like you lot.

When I was about 8, a man was stabbed against my front room window. I called 999 for the lad. Someone was stabbed at the bottom of my street the other day. Last year a man had his head lobbed off with a machete. **** happens outside of London.

Reply 9

hailye2

I've lived in the capital all my life yet I've never been near a stabbing actually. I guess it's more to do with the socioeconomics of the area.

Reply 10

Notoriety

Original post by Volibear

Did they survive (bar the last guy)?

Yeah, they both did (afaik). The second one was a mugging that went wrong and the only reason I found out about it was because my friend is in community policing and told me it happened at the bottom of my street. A lot of these stories never make it to the news, so people don't realise they happened.

There have been many other knife crime incidents he has told me about in the town generally (which is a small town) -- but the mugging was extremely close to where I live on a small secluded street. The one when I was 8 -- he was a convict on the run and one of his mates stitched him up with needle and thread, and a bottle of vodka.

Reply 11

stoyfan

I am sure that there are other cities which have a problem with knife crime.

Considering that the media has shutup about knife crime in London, you could make the assumption that the problem has been contained.

It seems that the knife crime problem in London has been over-sensationalized. Sure, London has surpassed New York in terms of deaths during one of the months but last time I checked the stats, New York was set to have more murders than London by the end of the year.

Reply 12

gjd800

My mate was killed by a gobshite with a knife last year. I remember some other mates were mugged at knifepoint outside our school nearly 20 years ago - it didn't make the news. It's always been a thing up these parts (as anywhere else, I expect), but we seem to be hearing more about it round here now. I'm not sure if it is because of increased incidences, increased reporting, or both. I suspect the latter. Been a fact of life for a long time.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 13

Notoriety

Original post by gjd800

Absolutely agree; and sorry about your mate.

A lot of the people who use knives are little pussies, and without a weapon or their mates wouldn't say boo. But once you bring out a weapon, you are put in a predicament where you either have to use it or you run the risk of having it taken off you and being stabbed with it yourself. You make yourself a target by having a weapon -- which is what these wannabe hardmen don't seem to get.

Reply 14

gjd800

Original post by Notoriety

Ta. He wasn't blameless, he went looking for the fight after he should have let it go and let the ******** that did it run away. He caught up with the boy who then pulled out a knife and did him in the neck. Had no chance.

I think most of us that have been in scraps (I realise this excludes most of the toffs on here) have been guilty of pursuing it after a reasonable point but we don't expect to die for it (nor should we).

It's a pet hate of mine. I despise the knife thing. You're right as well, I think. Once it's there it becomes a zero-sum game. It's gonna get used one way or the other.