The headlines in the newspapers and on the TV on the 26th of August 2013 said it all. A bright young youth of 16, years stabbed to death in another senseless murder, on the streets of London. Ajmol Alom described as “one of our brightest prospects” by his school head teacher, died after he was wounded in the thigh in Poplar, East London, on August 12.
Ajmol and a friend Azime Rob, also 16, were brutally set upon without any form of provocation by older teenagers. Aminur Nazir Khan, 19, has been charged with the murder of Ajmol and attempted murder of his friend.
Ajmol, who went to Langdon Park School in Poplar, achieved eight grades As and three B grades enough to guarantee a future in medicine that he was considering pursuing, after leaving school. One of teacher’s said his last memory of the keen boxer was when he volunteered to be part of a peace project in Northern Ireland.
What is so shocking about this killing and those that have gone unreported in the last few months is that, the Metropolitan Police and the politicians alike, Mayor Boris Johnson have made a great deal of the fact that, whilst the number of Police officers are cut on the streets of London, the crime levels are also reducing. This is captured in the headline grabbing reduction of over 30% in ‘serious youth violence’ in the financial year 2012-13. What lies beneath the statistic is that there is an undercurrent of under reporting by young people of stabbings and only the most serious of crimes such as murder reach the authorities. The minority youth in London for understandable reasons are weary of the Authorities and in particular of the Police force. The recent revelations of Met Police secretly engaging and spying on the family of murdered youth Stephen Lawrence and others during their time of need, has further reinforced the view that the Police cannot be trusted.
The good work being done in some parts of London with young people by community organisations, despite the austerity cuts that have seen youth services decimated and youth centres closed, seem to be bearing fruit. There are some real tangible gains in the reduction of knife and gun crime with over 20% reduction last year.
Despite the gains, areas seen as youth crime hotspots in London remain and this is despite the concentrated efforts by the Met Police to be proactive in taking preventative, measures.
There is a huge gulf between rhetoric and the reality on the streets of London, as any teacher or community worker in London would testify. One of the disturbing rises is the numbers of women and girls involved in gang violence. Many young women are suffering gang related sexual exploitation or violence, but the extent of it is largely hidden from the community and the authorities. As this seems to impact on the minority youth, the authorities, some argue, have been slow to respond in tackling this escalating trend amongst the youth.
This should not distract us from asking the question, how we can prevent another young person being killed on the streets of London.
Head teacher Mr Dunne, stated, “We are constantly bombarded with negative stories about young people, about their poor attitudes and anti-social behaviour. Working in schools and youth clubs for the past 40 years I have learned the opposite, that the vast majority of young people are in fact very decent, and undoubtedly go on to be equally decent adults. Our school, our community, our country has just lost one of its brightest prospects and we are all rightly shocked and depressed by it. The best comfort we can take from it is that, for however a short a time, those of us that knew Ajmol knew a very splendid young man and a fine citizen.”
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Semra Eren-Nijhar 