If you want to cut knife crime - educate the victims
Could you survive an unremitting attack delivered by a desparate, and non-remorseful street marauder wielding a razor sharp blade? Well, I did just that, but for 90% of us the answer to that question would be NO! Unless you respond with your ego, that is. The knife is a primitive edged tool that has been lacerating and puncturing human flesh for thousands of years, and will continue to do so if for no other reason than it’s a low cost and convenient intimidation device that can almost guarantee consistent and bloody results. It is not surprising, therefore, that such a primitive tool sits very comfortably within the primitive minds of those that carry them on our streets. The nation should be mortally embarrassed that in the 21st century the British people have allowed the horrendous decline in values and discipline to ravage our streets and terrorise our citizens. The whole country is in the grip of horrifying weapons related violent crime. Even the sugar coated police and government statistics on reported knife attacks are appalling. There are hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in the UK who may have never been attacked but are still literally living in fear of street violence. Every day there are people who are forced to come to terms with the thought that today could be the day when it’s their turn to become yet another police statistic. The government of course will set up yet another working party, another study group, another committee and spend countless millions just trying to understand the problem before they even start to implement proposals that might, or might not solve it. The police will try to get tougher, and more people may end up in prison, but at what cost, and who picks up the tab? The victims, that’s who. It all burns up more and more resources and will, by its very nature, almost certainly take a colossal amount of time. In the interim, however, the brutal reality is that the next innocent victim laying on a hospital bed, or worse a mortuary slab, with a knife stuck in their guts ‘HAD NO TIME!’ No time for the governments study group to come up with a new law. No time to call 999 and wait for the police to come to the rescue, and no time to try and re-educate the 12 year old kid that stabbed them. If you become a victim you are in the moment, you are on your own in a wilderness of fear and pain. Huge amounts of government resources are being poured into trying to educate and give the perpetrators of these crimes other lifestyle options, and rightly so. However, I do not believe there is one single penny being invested into trying to educate the victims and give them options on what they can do to avoid and survive dire life threatening situations. Ok, so that’s my little rant, but it takes me right back to that first question…’Could you survive an unremitting attack delivered by a desperate, and non-remorseful street marauder wielding a razor sharp blade?’ The answer should be and could be YES! If a tiny fraction of the time and funds that are being poured into trying to educate the perpetrators were diverted into educating the victims our streets would be much safer places to be. Take note I said educating, and that does not mean teaching people how to fight, on the contrary. Every citizen in this country should have access to information that helps them to understand the threat and gives them options on what they can do to avoid and survive a knife attack.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Steve,
A good article, which throws up some interesting points.
Being in law enforcement I have seen more than my share of edged weapon injuries up close and on the odd occassion of a personal kind. Needless to say it is no picnic for anyone when faced with a blade. The one resounding feature of being in contact with the individuals that carry and use a blade is that in the majority of cases they are using a blade out of COWARDICE and not talent. They have no intention of getting caught and all but a few will relish serving a term inside for their actions. And of those that do you will always hear a percentage of them bleating on about it not being their fault, society put them there for some other obscure unjust reason. (Thats my rant out of the way also).
With this in mind I also believe in showing these individuals for exactly what they are……..AFRAID!
The only problem is convincing the potential victim that the nemesis standing in front of them is just a frail mortal who quite possibly has just as many insecurities about themselves as does anyone else.
That would surely help to even up the subconcious balance.
And then fuel our potential victim with knowledge of how fear is created in the mind alone and having a full blown Amygdalic response is a good thing. All this will bring on an air of confidence, and that is a powerful allie to have in any situation.
Consider this, the majority of people involved in a martial art, boxing etc join a club for this overwelming need to want to learn to protect themselves. They train hard for some time and eventually start moving, walking and talking with the very same aire of confidence that permiates from their mentor. And in a huge amount of cases how many of these same people get mugged on the streets…not many. So we are right back to recognising that it is the coward not wanting to get caught that will always go for a soft target and not someone who has the confidence and potential to give them a taste of thier own medicine.
Knowledge is power and a great confidence builder. No one is born to be a soldier, a police officer, a great martial artist. Someone has to show them!
We are not all destined for greatness, but if you look carefully enough at what each of us can achieve in a day as an individual, we truly are surrounded greatness itself.
Staying away from the edge….as best as I can.
Kev
March 5th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
At last - something to read that makes sense!
keep up the good work