'We can't allow knife crime to be normal in Nottingham'
"Enough is enough, we cannot allow knife crime to become normal in our city."Campaigner Marcellus Baz has expressed "deep concern" following a series of knife crime incidents in Nottingham, including a stabbing inside the city's Primark store on 23 February.A machete was recovered following reports of a fight on Lower Parliament Street on Thursday, and a 17-year-old boy was taken to hospital with serious injuries following a stabbing near Nottingham Castle the following day.Dr Baz, founder of anti-crime youth charity Switch Up, believes "words are not enough" to tackle the issue and has organised a peaceful demonstration to take place in Old Market Square on Saturday.
'Collective commitment'
He said the aim of the event was to bring communities together and to "provide reassurance and outline a clear plan to combat knife crime"."If we don't try, nothing will happen," Dr Baz, who won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Award in 2016, added."Our community needs to be heard, we should not be living in fear and we need reassurance."Dr Baz hopes the demonstration will show a "collective commitment" to make Nottingham a safer place to live.
Assistant Chief Constable Suk Verma of Nottinghamshire Police said he "understands people's concerns" but added they were "isolated incidents".He said: "We are implementing an increased police presence and I want to drive down this particular fear of knife crime."The reality is, this is a whole systems approach needed to tackle knife crime. We need to tackle this through multi-agency groups. "This needs everyone to get round the table and we can't deal with this alone as the police."
Gary Godden, Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner (PCC), said knife crime rates were down from 2024 despite the recent incidents."We also have a reduction in young people going into the criminal justice system by 50% and hospital admissions from knife crimes are also down," he added."People can come to Nottingham and be safe in Nottingham. "This about partnership working and pulling everyone together that is involved with young people."Nottingham City Council leader Neghat Khan, who is planning on joining the demonstration, says she has called for an urgent meeting with police chiefs to discuss "what is an extremely concerning situation".
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