Knife Violence in Great Britian... Predictable

[WhiteFeather]

First they baned the guns,
next they ban knifes,
to bad they just don't ban crime.http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23488525-details/Surgeon%3A+one+in+three+A+E+patients+in+London+has +been+knifed/article.do



Surgeon: one in three A&E patients in London has been knifed
Justin Davenport and Anna Davis
30.05.08

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Knife violence in London is now running as high as gun warfare in some US cities, it is claimed today.

One of Britain 's leading trauma surgeons has told how one in three of his Accident & Emergency patients is now a stabbing victim.

Karim Brohi, a consultant surgeon at the Royal London Hospital , said the proportion of injuries from knives and guns was now on a level with - if not greater than - cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago .

He described how, on occasions, the wards in his hospital resembled "a war zone" with some patients being treated for their second or third knife wound.

And - in a letter to the Evening Standard - Mr Brohi, along with two senior trauma medics, called for more prevention strategies to solve the underlying causes of knife crime.

He said there was a real "potential" for surgeons and doctors to help in the fight against crime through a variety of schemes - such as doctors visiting schools to talk about knife injuries.

Mr Brohi spoke out as an Evening Standard survey showed how casualty wards across the capital were bearing the brunt of the rise in knife crime and treating hundreds of victims each year.

A snapshot survey of wards reveals at least 424 knife victims have been treated in hospital for stab wounds so far this year, 227 of which were serious cases. The true number of victims is even higher because each hospital records cases of stabbings in different ways.

Some major trauma hospitals, such as the Royal London, show significant increases in the number of people being treated for major stab wounds.

Surgeons there have dealt with 100 major stabbings so far this year, compared to 77 in the same period last year.

Mr Brohi, one of the country's experts in dealing with knife and gunshot injuries, said the number of people being treated for knife injuries was rising almost "month on month".

His letter to the Standard was written along with two leading members of London 's medical profession, the Royal London's surgical registrar Thomas Konig and Dr Anne Weaver, the lead clinician for the capital's air ambulance service.

The medics say: "We have already seen 100 major stabbings at The Royal London Hospital alone this year. This figure does not include minor cuts and lacerations that are not life threatening and are seen on a daily basis. In 2007 we saw 71 patients in the same period and 185 patients in the whole year.

"The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service provides London-wide pre-hospital care and patients are treated at various hospitals across London and they see about 30 per cent of the major stabbings that occur.

"So far this year they have attended 121 patients with a stabbing injury, 19 of whom have died on the scene. They have performed open heart surgery on 10 patients on the streets of London this year alone.

"The number of stabbings in London is unfortunately beginning to match some inner city areas of the United States .

"The dramatic rise in serious injury from people carrying knives is undoubtedly having an impact on the hospitals treating these injuries. "

The trauma experts say that underlying-social issues are behind knife crime and more needs to be done to develop prevention strategies alongside specialist trauma care. The letter states: "There is potential to reduce crime from our side if we could understand behaviour and liaise with victims and potential perpetrators. With a system that encompasses both treatment and injury prevention tactics we may go some way to improving outcome and decrease the level of violence that we are currently seeing across our city."

Mr Brohi said one option could involve reformed gang members talking to stab victims in hospital in an effort to get them to mend their ways. He also gave details of how the rate of stabbings in the capital is matching American rates. At the Royal London last year about 23 per cent of its trauma workload involved penetrating wounds - stab or gunshot wounds - but last month this figure had risen to 30 per cent.

In the United States , surgeons at hospitals in cities such as Los Angeles , Detroit and Chicago treated an average of between 25 to 30 per cent of penetrative injuries. Only in some inner city boroughs such as Brooklyn in New York was the rate higher.

Mr Brohi pointed out that in the States the majority of the wounds were caused by gunshots, while in Britain the majority were knife injuries.

He described how surgeons often felt helpless in trying to deal with the underlying problems of knife culture.

He said: "When you get as many young people in who have been stabbed, walking around the wards sometimes feels almost like being in a war zone.

"It feels unpleasant, it is fairly depressing. Some are gang members, some are innocent victims, some are not in gangs but resort to knife crime to resolve really small disputes. The ages are getting younger."

He went on: "We are a lot more than just surgeons. We have rehabilitation roles too. If you are involved in treating Aids or TB then you have a moral duty to be involved in preventing these diseases as well as treating them.

"It is our duty as health care workers to reduce the problem that is out there. That may mean working in schools helping educate kids about the consequences of their actions or it might involve bringing ex-gang members into hospitals to talk to people who are victims of violence.

"We have people coming in who are on their second or third stabbing and of course they may be likely to go out and stab someone.

"Somehow you have to break this cycle of young people feeling the need to carry a knife. We have tried to engage with community leaders but there is very little funding to employ people to do this."

[headcase]

Yeah, going and talking to the little punks in school, about knife wounds, will definitely help...help them hone their skills...

[TaePo]

My guess is that knives seem less deadly and are more likely to be employed. Of course, lacking firearm ownership etc. makes it more likely that knives are used and victims have no defense.

I also heard a major news source describing an incident where a popular young actor was stabbed to death in a brawl. Someone from Harry Potter movies. He stepped into a fight of his friends or something similar.

In any event, the quote was that the U.K. was discussing the need for "knife-control"!

Good post Whitefeather.

[Pector55]

Well let's keep banning things until people come in with hurt feeling from tickle fights.

[Ithaca1937]

I case you haven't seen it before a UK site against knives.

http://www.ntk.org.uk/

They are saying the same things against knives that are said about guns. The pledge wall has messages mostly from people that wish to remain defenseless, but there are a few pro gun ones up.

[Cookster]

Airport-style scanners on London streets
Story Highlights
London police plan to use airport-style scanners and hand-held weapons

Scanners will be used in crackdown against worsening knife crime in London

There have been more than 100 stabbings reported in London this year

LONDON, England (AP) -- A surge in violent knife crimes has prompted London police to introduce a new program that will rely on mobile, airport-style scanners and hand-held metal detectors for use against people suspected of carrying concealed weapons.

The new program, called Blunt 2, started this week in one borough and should be in place in all 32 London boroughs within the next few months, said a Metropolitan Police spokesman, who asked not to be identified in line with police rules.

The scanners have been in use by police for several years, but many more have been purchased and they will now be used much more aggressively under a law that gives police the right to search people without having to demonstrate beforehand that there is reasonable cause to believe they are committing a crime, the spokesman said.

"We've put it in under Section 60 of the Public Order Act, which is slightly more in your face," the spokesman said. "We can give officers on the ground the powers to go ahead and do it. We've got 550 metal detector wands and 244 search arches that can be used. If there's a problem, we can place them outside a row of shops or a shopping center and check people going in."

The spokesman said it will be possible for police officers to take the mobile wands onto buses and check passengers for weapons.

He declined to name the borough where the program started.

London's reputation as a generally safe city has been rocked this year by a marked increase in stabbings, with more than 100 reported in the capital so far this year. Most have not been fatal, but the slaying Monday of a 22-year-old man outside a McDonald's in the busy Oxford Street shopping area generated gruesome headlines.

The victim, who had been facing charges for rape and other serious crimes, was killed after an argument between two groups of young people that took place during the evening rush hour, when Oxford Street is usually filled with thousands of pedestrians.

[Defender]

The Brits are really nuts about this type of stuff. I don't think that the citizenry even has the right of self defense. Just get rid of the knives and everything will be all right.

[Pyrotek85]

What's bad is that knives and stabbing weapons are a lot easier to produce on your own, so banning knives will be even less effective than gun control, if that's even imaginable. What are they going to do, ban windows so they can't make shanks out of glass shards? This is going to spiral out of control real quick.

[Ten*K]

damn those AK-47 style knives!!!

[TaePo]

The scanners have been in use by police for several years, but many more have been purchased and they will now be used much more aggressively under a law that gives police the right to search people without having to demonstrate beforehand that there is reasonable cause to believe they are committing a crime, the spokesman said.

This is why one should consider criminals an enemy / threat and not just for what they could do to you. We need to be tough on crime/criminals by being unrelenting and harsh with punishments.

As the quote shows, criminals may also cause the government to attempt to curtail rights etc. as the system becomes ineffective in dealing with assaults. I think the Brits will soon have a totalitarian regime at this rate.

Assault = long time in prison. Assault with gun or knife = longer time with no possibility of parole.