We are piloting our community-led campaign to reduce street violence by 20% in Hackney & Islington because (a) most of our staff and trustees live or work in these London boroughs, (b) street violence is a serious issue here, and (c) if this initiative succeeds here, we believe it should be replicated easily elsewhere.
As explained in our report Get Up, Stand Up, last year 14,400 people in these boroughs were victims of street muggings and stranger attacks and two in three locals are not confident that anyone who saw them being mugged on a busy street would help. These people – whether victims, their families, those who witnessed these crimes or those scared to go out because of them – deserve better and are entitled to safer streets and deserve a better response. The British Crime Survey reports that in deprived areas like these, one in four people think it very or fairly likely that they will be mugged or attacked by a stranger in the next twelve months.
Our activities include:
- piloting our street violence mapping initiative in these areas - leading to our London-wide project StreetViolence.org
- driving the SPARKLE campaign throughout the boroughs
- working in schools with children, parents and the school community
- engaging with local clubs, groups, employers & community organisations
- offering the UK's only legal advice service for witnesses and victims of street violence
We want to see the 20% reduction in street violence by 2015 - that will be 2500 fewer victims each year in these two boroughs alone.
