Report to the People
25th July 2005

Sign up for Safer Streets
If you’ve already signed the petition demanding action on knife crime, then thank you very much.  The response so far has been great and, if it keeps up at this rate, will leave the Justice Minister in no doubt that our community wants the law toughened up.

In Inverclyde, we know only too well the price we are paying for the west of Scotland's knife culture.

And, in the unlikely event that anyone was questioning the need for action, last week's figures - which even the police described as "appalling" - must surely have dispelled any doubt.  Every week for the last six months, this report reveals, there has been an average of six attempted murders involving a blade and 43 serious attacks.  Indeed, murders involving knives in the Strathclyde area were three-and-a-half times higher than anywhere else in the UK.

To end this senseless waste of life, we need tougher sentences for carrying a knife and to make them harder to get hold of in the first place.  The police must also have sufficient powers to arrest anyone they suspect is armed.

There are proposals on the table to bring this about, but it's up to us to get them on the statute books.  So, if you want to join the call to get knives and the dangerous thugs who carry them off the streets, call my local office (791820) for a petition form, or sign up here.

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