Knife crime needs a whole community approach-finger pointing at the police is always the easiest option.

The capital has seen sixteen teenagers lose their life so far this year. Sixteen teenagers have died as a result of knife crime in London and despite endless pleas by bereaved parents and anti knife crime campaigners for years now, nothing is done.

Parents are tired, tired of fighting to have their voices heard and hope that someone will take them seriously and help stop what is fundamentally a public health crisis.

The easiest option is as always, to blame the police for this knife crime epidemic. To point the finger at officers for the failure to prevent youths carrying a knife.

Austerity cuts for our police forces began many years ago under a Home Secretary who went on to be Prime Minister and continue the decimation that we now see today on our streets.

A police force that has officers patrolling the streets everyday, seen all across our communities, working hand in hand with them, is what everyone wants, especially the officers themselves, but due to austerity cuts we have forces that are re-active rather than pro active. We also have officers stretched to the limits, teams struggling to meet the requirements and officers taken from every possible area to cover London protest duties.

The reality is that officers are over worked and under huge pressures from endless fronts.

When the billion pound cuts to policing began so many years ago, officers serving were shouting about the consequences these cuts would have to our society. They warned the public that cuts like this would have a devastating impact on our communities. Retired officers share their experiences of how many officers we once had on the streets, how many police vehicles there once were, times that most of us can only but imagine as we have never experienced it. What we do experience is a police force that is left in pieces trying to do the best that it can faced with such brutal cuts.

It is interesting to see that the Met despite a strong recruitment campaign, did not meet the targets and lost nearly £31million in Home Office funding. Yet it is the police force that serves London to the best of its ability despite endless obstacles.

These officers are also answering endless mental health calls due to the pressures on our mental health system that has also suffered cuts to funding.Cuts to so many services across our communities has meant that the majority of the workload now falls on police officers.

Knife crime must be a whole community approach. United communities in all ways working with the police needs to happen. What it needs most importantly is a person in authority to actually come out and really tackle the issue. From grassroots up to all levels of the community. All professionals coming together and working hand in hand with each other.

It is our police officers at the moment who are always the first on scene and provide first aid. It is them that receive those calls informing them that another child has been stabbed and them praying that they will not lose another life on our streets. It is worthwhile remembering that these officers are people and the impact of watching a child die, will remain with them all their life.

A fully functioning police force operating at full capacity is what we all want. If you are not prepared to fund it as it should be, then do not point the finger at our officers.

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