KIDS who are at risk from knife crime should get fitter so they can RUN AWAY and fight back against thugs who want to stab them, an MP has suggested.
In a bizarre outburst Tory MP Christopher Chope has suggested youngsters at risk of knife crime protect themselves by doing more exercise like judo and Tai Kwando so they can better “deal with the situation” – rather than carrying a knife themselves.
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He told police chiefs at a hearing of the Home Affairs committee today: “It’s an alternative. So if they say ‘well I’m carrying a knife because I want to protect myself,’ an alternative to that is actually to protect yourself by actually being fitter and more able to deal with that sort of attack.
“In the same way as a lot of young women are taught how to deal with men who get violent or threatening towards them.”
The MP, who has got himself in hot water by blocking the bill to stop upskirting in the past, said young people could be better prepared by doing martial arts so they are “physically able” to deal with the situation better.
Dave Thompson, Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police, said the “best knife prevention technique is to run away, as fast as you can” but didn’t think encouraging more kids to take up kick boxing was the answer.
Met Police Chief Cressida Dick said sport could help young people in a number of ways and “stop them getting into trouble” in the first place.
She also used her appearance to say that the £100million extra for knife crime dished out by Philip Hammond in the Spring Statement, as revealed by The Sun, was a “small amount of money” and she would be campaigning for more in the upcoming spending review.
Ms Disk said “the last couple of years have seen the highest and most worrying levels [of knife crime] she had seen in her 30 year career in the police.
Kids are stabbing each other with “huge hunting knifes and rambo knifes” which has been “awful in terms of life changing injuries”.
Many young people never report their crimes or injuries either, which means the true number of victims is likely to be even HIGHER.
“In terms of young people I think this is a new, worrying and tragic phenomenon,” she went on. “It’s my number one priority.”
The number of knife attacks and crimes in the capital and across the country has seen a huge spike in the past few years.
Connections around gangs are often made “around school friendships” as kids seduce their mates in to join them.
But Ms Dick said she was confident that the numbers were “stabilising” in the capital as police get a control on the issue.
Mr Thompson said knife crime naturally goes up in the summer and he is “braced” for another hike in the coming month.
“Summer is very demanding on violence,” he said. “It will go up in the summer.”
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