‘I want to move out of city because of knife crime’

Mr Brown said there is an attempt by police to understand what is going on but that arresting young people isn’t the answer.

“We’re at an impasse, we can’t enforce our way out of this,” he said.

Mr Brown said while multiple agencies working together is the right approach, it’s not currently working due to “massive gaps”.

“It can’t just be police, it needs to be council, it needs to be youth services that are picking up these young people,” he said.

Like Dr Johnston, Mr Brown also agrees that building safe spaces for young people could be the answer.

“We’re losing spaces where we can have young people at those peak times and hot spots – where they can speak to a trusted adult who can guide them towards the opportunity they really want,” he said.

“None of them want to be involved in this, they feel like they’re being left out to dry.”