Tackling Knife Crime and Gang Culture
Katy Gordon, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Glasgow Kelvin stood shoulder to shoulder with Ming Campbell at the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Aviemore on Sunday to welcome the party’s crime campaign: 5 Steps to a Safer Britain.
Speaking at the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference presentation on crime, she explained the party’s plans at Holyrood to combat the twin scourges of knife crime and gang culture that so blight many young people’s lives.
Speaking movingly about her experiences as a Careers Adviser for the past 13 years working with young people from some of the most disadvantaged areas of Glasgow, Katy said:
“I have witnessed at first hand a frightening number of young men sitting in interviews with me with huge scars running right across their faces. Some of these young men also told me they carried a knife themselves, for self protection.
It is a sad fact that 50% of all knives seized by police in Scotland are found in Labour controlled Glasgow. And knives are used in 60% of all violent crimes in the city.
The Liberal Democrats want to increase the maximum sentence for knife crime to 7 years combined custody and community (tougher but focused on tackling the reasons behind such offending, to cut down the menace of knife crime).
We need to stop scarred faces from scarring lives!â€
