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| Gwenton Sloley: ‘You can cause a lifetime of damage with acid for under £3’ | Gwenton Sloley: ‘You can cause a lifetime of damage with acid for under £3’ |
| (17 days later) | |
| Gwenton Sloley, 33, a former gang member, prisoner and now community outreach worker, has been speaking out about the need for a concerted effort to tackle the root causes of rising violent crime. Otherwise, an already volatile situation could get worse, he says. There has been a steep surge in gun and knife crime in the capital (up by 42% and 24% respectively since 2016, according to Metropolitan police figures). And concern is growing about the number of children carrying knives, and increasing acid attacks. | Gwenton Sloley, 33, a former gang member, prisoner and now community outreach worker, has been speaking out about the need for a concerted effort to tackle the root causes of rising violent crime. Otherwise, an already volatile situation could get worse, he says. There has been a steep surge in gun and knife crime in the capital (up by 42% and 24% respectively since 2016, according to Metropolitan police figures). And concern is growing about the number of children carrying knives, and increasing acid attacks. |
| Surge in acid attacks in England leads to calls to restrict sales | |
| Yesterday the home secretary, Amber Rudd, announced a package of anti-knife measures including a clampdown on online knife sales. It follows a proposed review of the legal and criminal justice system’s response to acid attacks with MPs pushing for tougher prosecuting guidelines for those who carry acid, as well as for those who use it. | Yesterday the home secretary, Amber Rudd, announced a package of anti-knife measures including a clampdown on online knife sales. It follows a proposed review of the legal and criminal justice system’s response to acid attacks with MPs pushing for tougher prosecuting guidelines for those who carry acid, as well as for those who use it. |
| “The government needs to send a really strong message on this,” says Sloley. “You can cause someone a lifetime of damage for under £3. Being burned by acid is like a slow death. And we need harsher sentencing for people caught carrying knives, hand in hand with more preventative programmes run by youth offending teams.” | “The government needs to send a really strong message on this,” says Sloley. “You can cause someone a lifetime of damage for under £3. Being burned by acid is like a slow death. And we need harsher sentencing for people caught carrying knives, hand in hand with more preventative programmes run by youth offending teams.” |
| Poverty, exclusion, untreated mental health and behavioural difficulties, and wider social problems are contributing factors to the rise in violent crime among young people, being compounded by a dearth of resources to deal with them, says Sloley. Echoing a recent Guardian report, he stresses that cuts to the police, youth services and other vital safety nets have had a devastating impact on large numbers of young people. Young people need “a safe place to go”, like a youth centre, he explains, if they are to have a genuine chance of avoiding street violence or knife culture. “That’s what we have to understand. Even if the world is going crazy outside and [people] are dying, that building, or that worker, is your only moment of feeling safe.” | Poverty, exclusion, untreated mental health and behavioural difficulties, and wider social problems are contributing factors to the rise in violent crime among young people, being compounded by a dearth of resources to deal with them, says Sloley. Echoing a recent Guardian report, he stresses that cuts to the police, youth services and other vital safety nets have had a devastating impact on large numbers of young people. Young people need “a safe place to go”, like a youth centre, he explains, if they are to have a genuine chance of avoiding street violence or knife culture. “That’s what we have to understand. Even if the world is going crazy outside and [people] are dying, that building, or that worker, is your only moment of feeling safe.” |
| “There have been a lot of cuts across the board. [They] are impacting on the violence and the homicides that we’re seeing.” Without investment in early intervention and prevention, the task is made all the more difficult, he says. | “There have been a lot of cuts across the board. [They] are impacting on the violence and the homicides that we’re seeing.” Without investment in early intervention and prevention, the task is made all the more difficult, he says. |
| Lack of access to appropriate child and adolescent mental health services, another target for cuts, is a “massive problem” too, he suggests. As are cuts to police budgets. Once a child is caught in a “cycle” – usually being excluded from school and then believing they need a weapon for protection on the streets, or perhaps moving on to more serious crime, the role of the police is crucial, Sloley says. “We need to give the police the resources to protect us. It [shouldn’t] even be a debate.” | Lack of access to appropriate child and adolescent mental health services, another target for cuts, is a “massive problem” too, he suggests. As are cuts to police budgets. Once a child is caught in a “cycle” – usually being excluded from school and then believing they need a weapon for protection on the streets, or perhaps moving on to more serious crime, the role of the police is crucial, Sloley says. “We need to give the police the resources to protect us. It [shouldn’t] even be a debate.” |
| Sloley’s days as a member of the Holly Street Boys gang in east London may be in the distant past but the experience informs his viewpoint and his outreach work, acting as a bridge between local councils and the police to engage with youngsters caught up in gang and knife crime today or at risk of getting sucked into it in future. “Once you’ve chosen to be on that side of the street there’s no coming back, because people start getting stabbed. People start dying. You can’t then say ‘oh I don’t want to play anymore.’ The game’s already started. It’s like a marriage. It’s like till death do us part. So there’s no leaving. It is a blood loyalty but it’s more like your family that you’ll die for.” | Sloley’s days as a member of the Holly Street Boys gang in east London may be in the distant past but the experience informs his viewpoint and his outreach work, acting as a bridge between local councils and the police to engage with youngsters caught up in gang and knife crime today or at risk of getting sucked into it in future. “Once you’ve chosen to be on that side of the street there’s no coming back, because people start getting stabbed. People start dying. You can’t then say ‘oh I don’t want to play anymore.’ The game’s already started. It’s like a marriage. It’s like till death do us part. So there’s no leaving. It is a blood loyalty but it’s more like your family that you’ll die for.” |
| He credits a Metropolitan police deputy borough commander, Leroy Logan, with helping him with the transition when he left prison. Logan believed he was committed to changing his life, Sloley recalls, and offered him his first opportunity to work with young people. “That’s where it all started. Everything changed for me after that.” Since his release from prison, Sloley has been co-director of Crying Sons, which supports families and young people in the community who are at risk or who have encountered violence, and has worked on gang exit and housing programmes across the capital. He has also trained hundreds of police officers in how to connect with marginalised young people. | He credits a Metropolitan police deputy borough commander, Leroy Logan, with helping him with the transition when he left prison. Logan believed he was committed to changing his life, Sloley recalls, and offered him his first opportunity to work with young people. “That’s where it all started. Everything changed for me after that.” Since his release from prison, Sloley has been co-director of Crying Sons, which supports families and young people in the community who are at risk or who have encountered violence, and has worked on gang exit and housing programmes across the capital. He has also trained hundreds of police officers in how to connect with marginalised young people. |
| Met 'may be overly targeting BAME youths as gang members' | |
| Sloley suggests forces could do much more to reach out to young people and to tackle knife and gun crime. “We need more training on how to do stop and search properly and also do it in a way that the person doesn’t feel like they’ve been humiliated,” he says. “Also, delivering stop and search in a way that the person being searched understands why the task is been carried out instead of it feeling [racially] targeted.” | Sloley suggests forces could do much more to reach out to young people and to tackle knife and gun crime. “We need more training on how to do stop and search properly and also do it in a way that the person doesn’t feel like they’ve been humiliated,” he says. “Also, delivering stop and search in a way that the person being searched understands why the task is been carried out instead of it feeling [racially] targeted.” |
| Sloley is yet to be convinced of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s announcement last month that all secondary schools in the capital will be offered knife detectors. He believes some headteachers won’t accept the detectors “because it makes their school look like a bad school”. “It’s a plaster on a big wound. I would say to Sadiq Khan, ‘work on the prevention. Because we need to be proactive, not reactive’.” | Sloley is yet to be convinced of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s announcement last month that all secondary schools in the capital will be offered knife detectors. He believes some headteachers won’t accept the detectors “because it makes their school look like a bad school”. “It’s a plaster on a big wound. I would say to Sadiq Khan, ‘work on the prevention. Because we need to be proactive, not reactive’.” |
| He’s equally sceptical of the appointment of Neville Lawrence, father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, to head a new group tasked with holding the Metropolitan police to account on knife crime and its relationship with communities. It’s “just an exercise in appearing to do something”, Sloley says. | He’s equally sceptical of the appointment of Neville Lawrence, father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, to head a new group tasked with holding the Metropolitan police to account on knife crime and its relationship with communities. It’s “just an exercise in appearing to do something”, Sloley says. |
| He argues that efforts to help youngsters vulnerable to violent crime must be robust. “The sad thing is that none of these young people, when you sit down to talk them (bar one or two), really wanted to do what they are doing,” he says. | He argues that efforts to help youngsters vulnerable to violent crime must be robust. “The sad thing is that none of these young people, when you sit down to talk them (bar one or two), really wanted to do what they are doing,” he says. |
| “But half of them are already being written off before they even get to secondary school. If we are not supporting them, what kind of future are we going to have?” | “But half of them are already being written off before they even get to secondary school. If we are not supporting them, what kind of future are we going to have?” |
| Curriculum vitae | Curriculum vitae |
| Age: 33. | Age: 33. |
| Lives: Sutton, Surrey. | Lives: Sutton, Surrey. |
| Family: partner. | Family: partner. |
| Education: Homerton house; counselling certificate, Hackney college; business BTEC, Islington college; | Education: Homerton house; counselling certificate, Hackney college; business BTEC, Islington college; |
| Career: 2017: government adviser, multifaith training, the Home Office; 2017: practitioner providing senior officer training on gang-related issues, Thames Valley police; 2016: practitioner, mental health awareness and safeguarding training for police officers, Metropolitan police; 2010-present: safeguarding trainer, Wardell Associates, working with Camden, Lewisham, Ealing and Merton councils; 2007-present: co-director, Crying Sons; 2010-11: partner, Safe & Secure London gang exit programme; 2010: consultant with Nacro and Serco, overseeing mediation work; 2009: manager, gang disruption group,Islington council; 2007-10: helped found Serve gang exit programme; 2006-10: manager, Makeda Weaver Project; 2006: assistant, school exclusion unit, Rush Croft secondary school. | Career: 2017: government adviser, multifaith training, the Home Office; 2017: practitioner providing senior officer training on gang-related issues, Thames Valley police; 2016: practitioner, mental health awareness and safeguarding training for police officers, Metropolitan police; 2010-present: safeguarding trainer, Wardell Associates, working with Camden, Lewisham, Ealing and Merton councils; 2007-present: co-director, Crying Sons; 2010-11: partner, Safe & Secure London gang exit programme; 2010: consultant with Nacro and Serco, overseeing mediation work; 2009: manager, gang disruption group,Islington council; 2007-10: helped found Serve gang exit programme; 2006-10: manager, Makeda Weaver Project; 2006: assistant, school exclusion unit, Rush Croft secondary school. |
| Interests: writing, helping homeless people, art exhibitions, golf, public speaking. | Interests: writing, helping homeless people, art exhibitions, golf, public speaking. |
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