Gang Culture

Pressure of work has stopped me writing a blog entry for a few months, but I am sure I am not alone in finding myself motivated to express some comment on the extraordinary events of recent days, which seems directly related to Anti Social Behaviour.

Our team has been working hard in Woolwich, setting up the ASB Module for London Borough of Greenwich. It is impossible not to feel horror and outrage at seeing the Weatherspoons pub which we have several times visited reduced to a burnt out hulk after the inferno shown in this picture.

However, much self ritious disgust has been expressed by one and all into the effects of the riots, and now the debate has moved on to why, and what next.

Before all this happened, a prospective employee suggested to me that a "Gang Module" might be a good addition to the database, as there is a need to monitor the members of Gangs, whether or not they have been linked to ASB and work with them to get them out of this evil culture. Her remarks seem all too prophetic and Mr Cameron's speech that he is going to "Wage War on Gangs" made me think that there might be mileage in such a product.

Unfortunately I then read the rest of his speech today, and learned that Mr Cameron was going to "fix 120,000 problem families" (not families with problems), by 1. Giving all 16 year olds some sort of Community Service sentence, whether or not they engage in criminal activity 2. Further restrictions on Benefits for the jobless 3. Ending the "chilling effect" of human rights and Health and Safety legislation 4. Reforms of school discipline.

Mr Cameron might have taken the time to read the other reports in the same papers which showed that the Met had arrested 1,580 people of which only 330 were juveniles. It may be that much of the problem is dishonest adults who are leading our children astray. It may be, we should take more time to understand the problem.