Revealed: 100 stabbings in London this year
More than 100 people have been stabbed this year in London, the Evening Standard reveals today.
The dramatic scale of knife attacks was highlighted as a crackdown using hundreds of police armed with metal detectors was launched.
The Standard has collated figures from Scotland Yard, City of London Police and British Transport Police.
We found detailed evidence of 79 of this year's stabbings in which 33 people died. There were other incidents in which details were sketchy which take the total to more than 100 in just four months.
Ten were teenagers, with the youngest victim, 14-year-old Amro Elbadawi, killed in West Kilburn in March.
In total, police dealt with 1,664 violent "knife-enabled" crimes - which range from murders to muggings where blades were brandished to threaten victims.
The figure came after a string of stabbings in the last few days culminating in a 22-year-old being killed in front of hundreds of shoppers in Oxford Street, prompting one of London's most senior policemen to vow: "Enough is enough." Boris Johnson's most senior adviser on policing, Kit Malthouse, said knife crime was now tarnishing London's reputation around the world. "It is a scandal and a disgrace," he told the Standard.
"London is getting the name for being a knife crime capital around the world and we are determined to do something about this." Senior officers met yesterday after seeing Mr Johnson following the murder of Steven Bigby on Monday outside a McDonald's in Oxford Street.
Today it was revealed he was on bail accused of rape and a stabbing and was known to police as a member of a notorious north London gang. After the summit, Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin said action would now be taken to deal with the knife crime culture. The operation, codenamed Blunt Two, is being launched in the London borough with the highest rate of knife crime.
Police are refusing to name the borough so knife-carrying criminals are not alerted. The searches will focus on transport centres such as bus and rail stations as well as routes leading to and from schools. It will be rolled out across 10 of the worst affected boroughs within weeks.
After the first night of the stop and search initiative, a police spokesman said no information was yet available on how many people had been stopped or arrested. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith gave her full support to the operation.
Police say the initiative is long term and designed to stop young people carrying knives.
The Met has received funding from the Home Office for an extra 300 weapon detectors. Mr Godwin said: "This is the time to say enough is enough. We have to drive down the number of stabbings in London.
"Our objective is not to harass people but to keep people safe. We are getting a significant amount of support for this. People from all walks of life want us to stop this."
Teams of officers equipped with airport-style "knife arches" and hand-held wands which detect weapons are being deployed on the streets.
Police will use stop and search powers under Section 60 of the Public Order Act to carry out checks on people suspected of carrying knives.
The wide-ranging order allows officers to carry out searches without having "reasonable suspicion" that the suspect is armed.
The move is expected to see a dramatic rise in the number of controversial searches carried out.
There is also to be a review of how knife crime is recorded so that the actual number of stabbings is made public.
The crackdown marks a break with Ken Livingstone's response to an outbreak of knife crime, when he accused the media of sensationalising the problem.
Mr Johnson said today that as an additional measure, uniformed police officers are to be put on the top deck of buses to support adults who want to challenge anti-social behaviour.
He added: "We're going to give adults more confidence by doubling the safer transport teams."
Additional reporting: Anna Davis
