Why We Would All Be Very Naive To Believe There Are No Gangs In Havering.

After the horrendous scenes that were witnessed across Elm Park on Saturday night, many locals were quick to point the finger at youths coming from outside the borough.

Reports of them being seen on trains, easily pinpointing the finger at those that are not residents of Havering. So far there have been two direct arrests, both teenagers were arrested in Hornchurch. Reports from those present at the birthday party state that the awful attack on an innocent delivery rider in Barking, is connected to the events on Saturday night. Youths having travelled on the train after running from Elm Park, with further reports of fighting on the trains. Two of these youths arrested in connection with the robbery of the delivery rider, were from Havering.

We can play semantics with the word gangs and fail to openly acknowledge that they are here, as is the case. But it still remains that ‘a group of individuals who view themselves and are seen by others as a distinct group, who may claim ownership over a territory‘ exist in Havering.

Most of you will now be shaking your head and stating that inner London has now reached Havering as many feared it would. So whose fault is? And can we point the finger at anyone in particular? The answer is no we can’t.

Why youths become a gang or join one is a complex issue and if you can point the finger, it needs to be at a decaying society. So many youths are lost, be it to lack of parenting, lack of education, heavy social media influence, social economic factors and when they need to belong somewhere. It is easy for us who are sat in a comfy chair to throw scorn at these youngsters, when instead what we should be doing is taking the time to talk with them and understand what they are feeling and why they take those actions that sadly end so negatively.

Many are misguided, many lack identity and find it in a group, many need support and many grow up in a society where their youth is being robbed from them.

There are people like Peguy Kato, Sue Hedges and Shirley Jackson that do an outstanding job working with our youth. Courtney Barrett from Binning Knives Saves Lives spent years and years meeting with them, talking with them and doing everything he possibly could like the others to support them. However, the lack of support and finance from those that should be supporting, failed.

It is time we begin to seriously address the issues that pushes these youths to make these bad choices and start to work with them and their parents to stop the level of violence we are seeing on our street.

Stay up to date with all of our latest updates and content by following us on our social media accounts!

We have created community pages where we will share our up-to-date stories happening in the area. Add the area closest to where you live.