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Youth Violence (London)

That kind of joint approach is a good one. I am keen to give other Members the chance to speak, so there is not enough time to detail the work on those initiatives being led by our borough commander, Mark Gore, and a leading councillor, Steve O'Connell, but some of them include working with education and welfare officers to identify those youngsters who might be at risk of being involved in a conflict and taking them from the streets before they get involved in trouble. They try to bring together all of the different members and stakeholders in the public sector in what is called a turn-around centre so as to identify how they can work to deal with the issues. Croydon also has a licensing committee in situ that is able to meet at 24 hours' notice and remove a licence from a premise that has obviously been a source of trouble, as was done in the case of the murder of the young Oliver Kingonzila. I would like to conclude by making a more controversial statement. I have seen incidents in my town in which there has clearly been no respect for the police service. We had an incident in front of 300 shoppers last Saturday afternoon during which there was a pitched battle of extreme violence between youngsters. It did not lead to a killing, but nevertheless we see a situation in which no respect is given. I believe that the very good work being done by the police, local authorities and others in the public sector will eventually lead to a success, but in the immediate short term, a more radical solution is needed. I know that in saying this I will raise the spectre of Croydon's reputation being further damaged, but people are already being killed on the streets of Croydon. We have an Army with the highest reputation in the world for civil policing. For a short period, and as a pilot programme, I believe that our Army would be better used on the streets of Croydon, rather than being left at Basra airport. That would send the message that we will no longer tolerate the killings. I have already written to the Minister of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker), about that proposal, and I am extremely grateful to him for coming to Croydon to listen to the views of young people there. It was really impressive that a Minister came to listen and not to speak. He is truly a listening politician. I know that he has not been able to reply to the letter that I wrote to him on that controversial idea, but when people are being killed on the streets of Croydon, we have to do something immediately to try to stop it.