'More investment in youth needed'

Rizwan intervened in a row over a mobile phone

As Rizwan Darbar becomes the 20th teenage victim of gun or knife crime in London this year, there are calls for greater investment in young people.

The head of the Metropolitan Police's Violent Crime Directorate wants more resources to help tackle ths type of crime among teenagers.

Det Ch Supt Barry Norman said: "If we do not invest in young people, then the trend is going to get worse and worse."

Rizwan, 17, died after being stabbed in a row over a mobile phone.

Role models

Det Ch Supt Norman said that a long-term approach was required to combat the problem of knife and weapon crime committed by young people in London.

"We should be doing more about parenting skills, after-school activities, more about role models. There is so much more we can do," he said.

What we have today is so many more communities in London, so many more youths in London that just associate with their own postcode Det Ch Supt Norman

The senior detective said the success of Operation Trident - which tackles gun crime in London's black community - meant younger people were filling the void left by older criminals taken off the streets.

He also said that the increasing trend of children attending school outside their borough meant they were more vulnerable while walking home.

"What we have today is so many more communities in London, so many more youths in London that just associate with their own postcode. Young people are fiercely territorial," he said.

He added that while additional resources had already been dedicated to cutting this type of crime, more could be done.

"Serious youth violence has not been one of the things we have been focused on, but we are now.

"Every borough is receiving additional resources to tackle it. Every borough has a bespoke plan to engage with young people."