EXCLUSIVE:’It takes a village to raise a child’-Havering to host its first Knife Crime Summit.

Shakira Bruce-Abubacker went to meet Romford Councillor David Taylor to chat about Havering’s Knife Crime Summit taking place at the end of March.

In a room adorned with portraits and memorabilia, paying homage to the formidable Margaret Thatcher. I, like many, felt a wave of nostalgia wash over them, as the paintings and portraits served as a poignant reminder of the bygone era. Yet, amidst this palpable sense of history, the atmosphere had shifted as a breeze of modernity came through, as Councilor David Taylor made his entrance.

Wearing nothing else but a simple hoodie and jeans, Councillor Taylor’s attire stood in stark contrast to the solemn surroundings. For many, including myself, who are accustomed to the polished facade of traditional politicians, the stereotypical ensemble of a “suit and tie”, his casual attire came as a pleasant surprise, bringing a sense of familiarity and comfort. His wide smile and joyful demeanour, further dissolved any lingering tension, setting the tone for an engaging discussion.

The purpose of our meeting was to shed light on an issue plaguing communities across the nation – knife crime. With the Knife Crime Summit quickly approaching on March 25th, Councillor Taylor shared insights into the event’s significance.

“Why is the summit taking place?” I asked, eager to delve into the heart of the matter.

Councillor Taylor leaned forward, his demeanour earnest, yet approachable. “Sure, it’s a good question. In the last few years, especially that I have lived in Romford and represented it as a town centre, I’ve seen an increasing number of residents express fear and discomfort about the town’s centre and there seems to be, in my opinion, a bit of a disconnect between how the politicians feel things are and how the residents feel things are.”

He took a swift pause, “So, what I would say is, as a politician, the data that we are provided, by the police and other sources, gives us the impression that Romford and Havering is a very, low crime borough. Especially, in comparison to the rest of London. And I don’t doubt that data, but when I communicate that data to my residents, they push back on us and say, well actually they feel as if it’s very opposite. They feel, that, there is high crime, they feel that they are threatened, they are afraid to go into a town and that really upsets me. So, what I want, is to facilitate a conversation between the residents, and those that are in charge of Havering and those that make the decisions, to make sure we both understand, where we’re coming from, what the reality of the situation is. I want to give residents a voice to be heard.”

His passion for the cause was evident, emphasising the urgency of the issue. He continued, elaborating on the summit’s purpose. 

“The first purpose is to give the residents a cohesive voice.”

He continued, “So, a lot of residents are taking to social media to express their fears and their concerns, or they’re compacting on us as councillors to express it. But there isn’t necessarily a wave of bringing that all together to show the community how it feels as a whole. I want to work with people to create a platform for residents, so that the residents can be heard, in an environment where all the important people are there.

“The other thing is that it’s not just a platform for residents talking, it’s a way for the community to show what we are doing, to tackle crime in the area, especially knife crime.

“We’ve invited some really fantastic charities and organisations along who are going to exhibit some of the work they’re doing to tackle this problem. So, there will  be people there demonstrating how to use bleed kits, the work with youth groups, anti-knife charities, to help members of the public understand there’s really great bits of work going on to tackle this. And the end goal is we want the people of Havering to be drawn together as a community, to be emboldened to tackle this, but also to feel encouraged that there is something that can be done.”

He pauses once more, his gaze wandering as he considers. “I think the most dangerous thing for Havering will be that people felt, helpless.” As he comes to realisation of the formidable outcome, his posture drops, emphasising the potential for disappointment.

“And lost hope, and wrote it off as “There’s nothing that can be done about it.” And I want people to walk away from this summit thinking, “Wow, there’s an amazing group of residents who are already out there tacking it, I’m going to get involved and support them and together, as a community, we’re going to fix this problem.

“There’s that proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.”We all know that one, so we now need to put that into action, I think that there’s so many people out there that want to and are doing amazing stuff in the community. I want to pull them all together, so as a borough and as a town, we can raise these kids and we can raise the town up to be something better than it is.” He concludes, affirming with a nod of certainty.

“Are you expecting any change to come from this summit?” I asked.

“Yeah, I am, I’m expecting a few things to change. The first is I want to change is the way that us as politicians and leaders communicate to the public. I had an experience a few weeks ago where, we had the stabbings take place in Romford. We had two in one day, and I was communicating to residents saying, “This is horrific, but don’t lose hope, we’re a “low crime borough”.Cause this is what I’m told as a politician, that’s what the data shows, and the anger I received from residents, very real, raw,anger, that made me feel like I was completely out of touch with what was going on. And I think other councillors might be in the same position, where we are under the impression that “It’s okay, we’re low crime.” I want us as councillors and leaders to change the way we communicate with residents, I want the residents to feel hope about what’s going on. But most importantly, I want the residents to feel empowered to report more crime to the police, and also to get stuck in with these charities and organisations so that we will bring knife crime down. That’s what I want to change, the way we talk to our residents, the feelings of hopelessness residents have, and I want residents and politicians to understand that we can, and we do need to take action.”

Lately, there’s been an ongoing discussion as to whether “Knife Crime” exists, with many choosing to avoid the term “Knife Crime” and opt for an alternative reference. Councilor David Taylor expressed his perspective on the matter. 

“Knife crime exists.” He strongly stated. “There is enough evidence that knife crime exists, and,” He paused, in thought. “There are impressions and feelings, that it is only getting worse. There is a reason as to why it exists. There are so many. We’ve seen it really spiral, especially over the last decade and it’s not just in Havering, it’s over the entire UK.”

He continued. “I was very privileged; I grew up in a very quiet town outside Oxford, even last week in Oxford there were kids stabbing each other, you know. People view that as a really posh nice place for you to grow up, so it exists and it’s happening. And I don’t have all the answers, as to why it’s happening, but I do know that there’s amazing people tackling it and doing the work to tackle it and I think we need to put a spotlight on them, highlight the work that they’re doing, and rally round them as leaders to say “You guys have got the answers.” Ultimately, they know better than I do, and there are kids growing up in communities, looking at leaders like me, where I’m saying its “low crime” and they’re looking and saying, “This guy hasn’t got a clue.” And they don’t feel represented by me and that’s not okay. I need to change that. I need to change the way I speak about it and I need to let these people know, that I agree with them, and that there’s a problem, and I’m going to do what I can as an opposition councillor.

“And as a new councillor,” he chuckled, hoping for a bit of leniency as he persisted in his efforts. “I’m still working out what I’m doing, but I’m going to do everything that I can to let those kids know, I hear you and I’m going to do what I can about it and I’m going to encourage others to do the same.

“I think there’s a few reasons as to why people don’t think it exists. One, is like I said, the data, especially the data we get given as politicians, it says that it’s “really low” and its “rare” and yes, I guess, statistically it’s rare, right? Two hundred thousand people living here and two of them get stabbed. However, two, is two too many. So one, we look at the data and think “Oh this is quite low”. But also, we look at the data and compare it to other places and say ,“Hey look, we only had five stabbings in Havering over the last six months but if we went to Newham, there’s like fifty. And we compare ourselves versus a place that’s worse off. But I want Havering to compare itself against the best version of ourselves. I don’t care if knife crime is higher somewhere else and ours is slightly better, I want ours to be nothing. I think that’s one, it’s the data that leads a lot of people to believe it’s not a problem.”

He continued, “I think the other one is, so many of our leaders and councillors, and this is not a criticism of age or anything, but you go and look at the politicians that we do elect in Havering and those that are in the chamber, and there’s three words that can describe most of them.”

“Male, pale and stale.” He asserts, simultaneously emphasising it by counting on his fingers to drive it home.

He chuckles, “Right, it’s a lot of old white men, who have done well for themselves, I have got nothing against them.” He chuckles once again. “One day, I will be an old white man, who’s hopefully done well for himself. Nothing against them, but it’s got to leave us wondering whether they properly understanding what’s going on in these communities where the knife crime is happening. If I was a young black kid, growing up in Romford, struggling with gangs, for example, why would I go and speak to a 70-year-old white man, in a suit all the time, who tells me it’s not a problem? I’m not gonna tell him what’s going on because he doesn’t even feel like he wants to represent me, and we’ve got to change that. We’ve got to encourage more young people to get into the politics, we’ve got to encourage these politicians to go into these communities.”

He continued, “So the data tell us its low and there’s a massive disconnect, between this bubble we live in as politicians and the real world that everyone else lives in, and we need to pop that bubble.”

He then proceeded to discuss alternative terms for “knife crime”. “There’s “aggravated assault”, it all depends on how this stuff is recorded. Or, quite often, you get politicians, instead of saying “knife crime”, they would just talk about gang violence. Politicians are never afraid to say they’ve got an issue with gangs. There’s a whole lot of underlining reasons for that, in the, you can sort of “other people” by saying, its gang violence. So, it makes you feel like it’s something else.”

He takes a pause, “There’s loads of different ways crime istalked about, they, like I said might just say its “aggravated assault” or they might say “we did stop and search, and whilst doing stop and search, we recovered “x” number of weapons.” But they don’t call that knife crime and I don’t get why, because if they reported the number of knives, and they do, but if they said in Romford we have taken “x” number of knives off the streets from kids, the public would understand how big an issue this is. Cause they are taking a lot of knives off kids on the streets. I don’t know why they report it that way, I’ve got my suspicions.”

And it is evidently written on his face. “Like I said, it’s easier to other the kids and say that they’re the problem, right? It’s easier to do that then admit that we have created a world where these kids don’t feel safe, and where they’re looking for role models in the wrong place. Because “that kids the problem, not me, the politician”. Thats what I think is going on and that’s why I want these parents and children and everyone to come to the Summit, stand in front of the microphone and speak their mind, to the politicians and the leaders. Because, when we hear what these parents are going to say, we have no choice but to change the way we’re acting and behaving towards the situation. No choice.”

He briefly digresses from the question, a sign of enthusiasm and genuine concern for the situation at hand. It was evident that Councillor Taylor approached the matter with a sense of urgency and purpose, driven by a genuine desire to effect meaningful change.

As the interview was approaching its end, I queried him about his strategies moving fowards, after the Knife Crime Summit, aiming to prevent or reduce knife crime. “That’s a really goodquestion. Look the first thing, I think, is this summit needs to be an annual thing. Right, even if we had broadened it eventually and said, “it’s not just knife crime, it’s crime in general”, we need to broaden it and create a platform for parents and residents on a regular basis, to be heard and for the community to show the work its doing. And, I hope by doing that, and it’s not just my thing, there’s amazing people helping me like Fran, like Havering Daily, that’s doing a lot of work in this. So, I hope that by, instigating this, I’ve done something to help at the beginning. You know the thing I need to do is, I need to keep listening.”

He nods his head in assurance. “Properly, to parents, and I say parents cause its usually parents, we’re not seeing fifty-year-old women, walking around stabbing each other.” He chuckles, “It’sthirteen, fourteen, fifteen-year-old kids, most of the time. I need to change the way I’ve been listening to the parents, about this, and listen properly and understand what they’re saying. I need to get involved and I need to see it.”

“Now also, the other thing I need to do is I need to be pushing government locally and nationally, to properly fund the police force. We’ve got issues in London, in the way that the police force is set up, in the “We’re not in control of our police force locally, it’s all centralised”. And that means we don’t get to decide, where we are putting the funding, do we want more people on the streets? Do we want more people in the back office? Do we want more people in cars?  I want to push to change that so that it’s the people in Havering who have control, all over and what our police is doing and where they are, as I think the public have very different priorities for our police. And I’m going to keep on pushing to say, “We need reform on the way that police in London work.” So that the community sets the priorities for it and so that we have more police locally, rather than dragging them off to Central London. I think that would make a big measurable difference.

“The other thing I want to do,” he continued. “Is play my part in restoring trust between the police and the public. Now I’m just a councillor and I’m an opposition councillor and I’m new to it. I cause enough trouble anyway.”

We both burst into hearty laughter, both realising the hole he has inadvertently dug for himself, yet acknowledging, it’s a predicament worthwhile. “So, maybe the power I have is quite limited, but if I don’t do everything in my power, that I am able to do, I shouldn’t be in this position. I should hand it over, to someone who is actually going to work as hard as they can to do it. So, I’m going to be pushing for that change in the police, I’m going to be pushing our local council to actually focus our resources, to make sure we’re actually doing things like, keeping youth centres open, I mean regular communications, especially with church leaders around the town, cause I think that’s a really good way of reaching our youth. I’m gonna keep communicating with them, getting them connected to the council so that the council understands what’sgoing on. Making sure that the community work is going on.”

He then emphasised, “And at the very minimum, I’m just going to be making sure that everyone is talking to each other and making sure politicians don’t “talk to” the public, but “talk with” them and listen to them. That’s what I hope, that’s my plan.”

“I want the youth to be there, to tell us how they’re feeling, cause a lot of them feel as if they can’t talk to their parents. They can’t tell them. A lot of times, their mums don’t know what their kids are doing. A lot of the time, the dads don’t have a clue what their kids are up to. But most importantly, I want the kids to look these politicians in the eye and leaders in the face, and to tell them the reality and to tell them their truth. I want them to see how they’re responded to, because they feel like they can’t talk to us and that we don’t represent them. So, here’sa chance, right? For councillors, MPs, the police, to look these kids in the eye, to hear what they say and to respond. And if the public don’t like the response, the politicians are going to lose their jobs. And so, I say to the kids and the youth, if you turn up, this is your opportunity, to be heard, to influence and it’s your opportunity to judge once and for all, if these people can represent you and if you come away from this summit, feeling like you’ve not been listened to or you feel as if they don’t get it, I want you to register to vote and go out and use your vote to change the people that do represent you.”

“Those that change things are going to be the ones that turn up, those that stay away, don’t expect anything to be any different. It’s going to be a safe environment and it’s going to empower the residents.” He stated. 

As the interview concluded, I couldn’t help but reflect on the significance of the moment. In the heart of Magaret Thatcher House, stood Councillor David Taylor as a beacon of contemporary leadership, his unwavering commitment to progress truly set him apart. And as the Knife Crime Summit loomed upon me, I couldn’t shake the the thoughts of family, friends and other members of the community who have endured the pain and suffering at the hands of knife crime. The unsuppressable tears, fears and frustration. Change was needed, and it was needed urgently. Not just for ourselves, but for a better and safer future for all.

The Knife Crime Summit will be happening on the 25th of March, at Romford Baptist Church, with doors opening at 6pm and the industry panel taking place at 7pm. Please come and support your community. Vent, cry, but most importantly, come be a helping hand and support, as we all strive for a better, safer and secure future for all.

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