How might Tech solutions reduce knife crime?
Using Tech For Social Good
A snapshot of the problem:
A son asks his mum for a hug. They both embrace, and the son tells his mum that he loves her. She laughs and says, don’t worry; I love you too, son!
A few hours later, the police knock on the front door to inform the mum that her son has just murdered someone. Luton, United Kingdom May 2019
Many government organisations, individuals, and non-profit organisations respond daily to these real-life stories described above. As yet, they have been unable to effectively connect their resources, knowledge, and practices, however willing.
It is evident for us all to see we are on the verge of creating societies where humans who only live metres apart are going to be leading completely different socio-economic lives.
As a result of the rollout of the digitalisation workforce — we risk limiting the access of millions of young people to a future workplace that will be tech-centered.
The Vision:
The vision is to bring together people and organizations to design the future by working together to prototype our way towards new human-centered tech solutions that reduce knife crime.
I want to collaborate with individuals and organisations who understand how today the majority of us participate in webs of interconnections that weave our world together and that everything is connected to everything else.
With a lifetime of experience of creating human-centered tools and solutions for societal problems, I have observed for change to happen it is essential for a diversity of folks to create an eco-system of creativity that approaches ideas with an ‘open heart,’ an ‘open mind’ and an ‘open will,.’ This enables individuals and organisations to cross the valley of societal transformation.
By ensuring all our citizens have access to tech-centred solutions, we will disrupt the lives of these young people, their families, and local communities for good.
Why I care
I grew up in a conflicted society (Northern Ireland). I know from my own life experiences how many benefits can result when individuals and organisations share resources, practices, and knowledge for the greater good of society. As a society, we learned in Ireland the importance of disrupting young people’s lives with the vision of a hopeful future.
For the past few decades, I have collaborated with stakeholders across the globe to integrate data science into organisational practices to come up with new understandings of age-old problems. These include my organisation starting to use using Artificial Intelligence for implementing sustainable water solutions in rural Africa by asking questions such as;
How might AI help test the quality of water in wells?
How might AI help predict local weather patterns in some of the most rural areas of Africa?
Presently I am involved in grassroots projects in the UK that responds to meeting the underlying issues of knife crime and its effects on the families of victims, perpetrators, and the wider society.
While the work breaks my heart as I journey alongside communities who are suffering so much pain and chaos — it is also inspiring to see the human spirit respond with hope.
To quote one mother who shared the story of the last words to her dying son — a victim of knife crime, “ I will make your name famous. ”
She achieves this by talking with young people, schools, and prisoners about the dangers of knife crime. Her mission is to replace the despair with hope and bring light to the darkness of people’s lived realities.
What I notice:
My key learning to date has been that the practices, thinking, and resources of these individuals and organisations -who seek to solve this problem- are not fully realising the potential of tech -centred solutions to meet their goals.
Even though many young people fully inhabit the emerging digital world; most communities, individuals, and government agencies are slow to adapt their core mission to integrate digital technologies.
There are lots of well-meaning individuals and organisations who are finding it hard to effectively share knowledge and resources or visualise how tech could help them collaborate.
What I know: The current situation is incredibly complex and includes the need to identify and harness existing research around issues such as fragmentation of family cohesion, gang culture, toxic masculinity, lack of positive role models, limited access to potential for utilising an entrepreneurial spirit, multi-substance issues such as drug use, localised problems such as postcode crimes, disenfranchisement, trafficked youth, bullied youth as a starting point.
Amid the complexity of knife crime; poverty, hunger and lack of safety are a reality for millions of our young people.
This complexity has not been helped by a hyper-reductionist (global) political landscape that seems to offer no solace for those of us who seek to integrate empathy and kindness into the social fabric of our local communities. This negative weight of hopelessness is apparent in a great many news reports, corner shop conversations, and online platforms.
Since the global crash, the UK government has introduced austerity measures that have cut millions from youth budgets and broader social care programmes. These measures include a reduction in police numbers and youth services for crime prevention. Alongside these cuts, we have experienced digital technologies that have changed every part of our human existence, and are embedded into the lived experience of our young people.
The reality of the impact of digital technologies in the everyday living of young people presents a challenge to all who seek to impact their local communities for good.
This new way of ‘being’— in a digital age — transcends the traditional methods that ensured social cohesion through the clear physical boundaries of family, school, and third spaces. Furthermore, our younger generations now receive most of their information digitally, whereas former generations would have received their information via the printed form.
The disconnection from the ‘service provider’ to the ‘end-user’ is especially true for historical institutional organisations — established in the pre-internet era — who are still embedded in industrial age thinking and practices.
At a human level, families are being torn apart by the growing culture of young people responding to threats by using a knife to defend honour, territory, income, or peer acceptance. The families of both the perpetrators and the victims are being devastated by life-changing violent events that can, in a moment, cause unimaginable trauma and grief.
The good news is that there is a willingness to address these issues. Individuals and organisations are responding “en masse” as they yearn to reach out and connect with the needs of their communities. However, many grassroots practitioners and organisations — along with politicians, funders, schools, community activists and other key stakeholders are actively searching for the best way of responding to build societal foundations that will lead young people and their communities out of the current cycle of devastation.
In the digital — age, many of the individuals and organisations who seek to inform these young people that every one of them is loved, unique, and able to achieve their dreams, feel powerless to help.
Lots of organisations and individuals while seemingly well prepared to respond after the fact, lack the tools or data to pre-empt these tragedies in the 21st century.
So how might we urgently disrupt the old methods of community development by integrating digital tools?
Six reasons that give me hope for finding willing individuals and organisations to partner in this quest:
1. Knife crime is currently top of the agenda for every agency and sector of UK society.
2. There exists widespread acknowledgement that the response to reducing knife crime is disjointed, and there is a lack of data flow between agencies, non-profit organisations, and individuals.
3. The UK government is keen to roll out 5G and manoevure the United Kingdom to be a world leader in tech; ensuring all its citizens feel the benefit of the digital revolution.
4. Many corporate organisations are seeking to meet their mission of a triple bottom line.
5. For better or worse, urban young people will continue to be fully connected to digital.
6. With the ongoing, mind-numbing, Brexit conversations, people yearn for and want hope in their lives. Hence, there could be plenty of opportunities for community activists to partner with corporate business, government, and concerned individuals to bring hope to young people’s lives.
Call to action:
Could you be part of our group of companies, non-profit organisations, entrepreneurs, institutions, and deep thinkers that could start our conversation by asking:
