HANDING out job application forms and getting court order banning problem youths from congregating outside Blackbird Leys shops are among the tactics beat bobbies will use in an effort to cut violence in the Oxford estate.
Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys has seen a spike in violence over recent months, with stabbings in January and February resulting in a number of teenagers and men being arrested for attempted murder.
Thousands of pounds’ worth of police resources have been spent on the estate in the wake of the violence, much of it coming from a £700k Home Office grant overseen by the region’s Violence Reduction Unit and used to pay officer overtime.
READ MORE: People describe the moment when police swarmed Blackbird Leys after stabbing
That funding was labelled a ‘game changer’ by Blackbird Leys sergeant Alex Penn.
“We can’t be here all the time as a neighbourhood team,” he said.
“It provides us that resilience and gives us some numbers I think neighbourhood should have.
“It means opportunities that may be missed because of smaller teams and reduced hours and so on and so forth are there.”
With extra police officers drafted onto the estate, the neighbourhood officers were able to spend more time with local schools and organisations like RAW Workshop who work with youngsters, preventing them from getting into crime.
Sgt Penn said: “We will walk up to the groups [of young people] and hand them application forms for Tesco. We will give them application forms for charities running…apprenticeships.”
The officers were also looking at getting Public Spaces Protection Orders outside shops and in other areas where groups were gathering.
Sgt Penn said the ‘vast majority’ of recent knife crime was linked to a small group of young people.
“That very specific core group of individuals are related to drug crime,” he told the Oxford Mail.
“It’s about them coming of age, trying to find a foothold in the area, trying to establish themselves as an effective business enterprise and the inevitable violence that comes with it.”
READ MORE: 73 weapons taken off Blackbird Leys' streets in latest knife amnesty
The work was praised by Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber, who visited the estate last week. He said the Home Office funding was a ‘real boost’ that meant the police could deploy more officers to violent ‘hotspots’.
However, a group of teenagers cycling across Blackbird Leys Park said poverty was the real problem. “There’s nothing for us to do,” one said.
Another called on officers to stop the ‘b*******’ stop and searches, questioning why officers from Bicester or Thame were on the estate when ‘they’re not even from here’.
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