Police officer starts anti-crime family unit

A local police officer has started a project to help families affected by knife crime take a stand against the persistent problem affecting inner cities.

A project started by Lambeth police’s African and Caribbean liaison officer, Errol Patterson,  will give south London locals a chance to help each other in the effort to stamp out knife crime incidents.

The Lambeth Black Families Parents’ Forum begins with its first meeting in Brixton this month.

The initiative took shape after  Brixton schoolboy Zac Olumegbon was stabbed to death the south London area this summer.

Speaking to the South London Press, Mr Patterson said: “I felt strongly that Zac shouldn’t just be another death. I wanted the community to start looking at themselves and at what’s going on, and why it’s disproportionately affecting kids in the black community.

“I gathered contacts I know from the community and we sat around the table to discuss what’s affecting our community. The idea for the forum came out of that meeting.”

It will concentrate on educating parents about telltale signs their children may be involved in gangs, and will be officially launched at the Karibu Education Centre in Gresham Road, Brixton, on Saturday.

Mother of three Sandra Moodie, 45, parents’ forum vice-chairwoman, said there were 30 parents involved already and more were signing up.

She said: “After Zac died, we wanted to make a stand. We felt we had to look at what’s happening with our youngsters that’s leading them to go on killing themselves.”

The forum will also act as a link between parents’ groups, the police and community organisations – giving parents somewhere to turn if they’re worried about their children.

Sandra Moodie added: “We’ve already got links with social services, and we’re hoping to run workshops for parents. We want to take it around the borough. It’s about empowering parents. We can’t leave it all to the police. We want to get parents to look at the mindset of their kids and the issues they are facing, and at the relationships they have with them.

“We want to look at ways they’ve been parenting and find ways of giving them better strategies, otherwise, how many times are we going to watch our children get hurt?”

Picture - Back row, from left, Christine Allen, David Watchman Williams, Belinda Nnoka, Keith Wint, Vince McBean, Pastor Brighton Kavaloh, Segen Ghevrekidan. Front row, PC Errol Patterson, Sandra Moodie, Adrian Jones

To become a mentor to work with parents or to attend the forum’s launch email lambethblackfamilies@gmail.com or call 07538 472 919.

Email: nadia.gilani@slp.co.uk