A Nation Unprotected: How to Solve Britain's Crime Issue

On the 29th July, 2024, Axel Rudakabana entered a taxi which carried him four and a half miles to the location where he would effectuate the murder of three little girls and the stabbing of ten more: a dance studio. This dance studio was holding a class that mainly consisted of mothers and daughters who were taking part in a Taylor Swift themed dance class. Little did they know that on that sunny Monday in July, with a surgical mask on and his hood up, Rudakabana would exit his taxi without paying, enter the dance class and begin a terror attack of indescribable malevolence, evil and repulsion. What followed was, rightly, national outrage, which materialised in demonstrations and riots that swept across the North. 

The disruption that ensued across the North, although showed clear discontent for the levels of immigration in the UK, further revealed the resentment Britons share towards the police in modern-day Britain.

In London alone in 2024, 17.89 serious offences involving a knife per 10,000 residents occurred. Furthermore, over the past five years, London has seen a staggering 72pc increase in reported knife crime; yet, in the New Years Honours list, Sadiq Khan was given a knighthood, as a reward for his failure. Sadiq quite clearly Khan’t, although our monarchy begs to differ.

As for the citizens of this country, Brits now unfortunately have to contend with the fact that not only are we, as a nation, rewarding incompetence, laziness and unaccountability but we can’t even be protected as citizens. The first priority of any country should be to protect its own inhabitants from barbaric individuals and apply the rule of law equally; something which the UK seems incapable of doing.

This sort of widespread dysfunctionalism is demonstrated in the two-tier justice system in the UK. In the case of Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson, this was materialised, when she was investigated for a ‘non-crime hate incident’ on remembrance sunday last year over something that she posted on X over a year prior to the arrest. What was so bizarre was that she couldn’t be told who accused her of the crime nor could the police tell her of the crime that she apparently ‘committed’. Welcome to 1984, English style. We now have a weaponised police system that, instead of locking up criminal grooming gangs in the North, we report and arrest people for causing ‘harm’ online.

In fact, the whole grooming gang debacle can be used as a microcosm of the failings of the police force as a whole. One of the abhorrent mismanagements of the case was that divisions and members of the police force were afraid to report the ethnicities and even the crimes of the perpetrators as not to be labelled ‘racist’, according to Peter Bleksley, a former Met police detective. We now have a police force that has been weaponised and used as a means to push ‘social justice’ in the stride for ‘diversity’, which doesn’t lock people up because of the ethnicity or religious background of an individual. So in order to bring about a twee, all-loving, non-critical, utopian society, the police now act as a barrier to protect the mentally weak; silence critics and promote radical political manifestations.

Although it may look bleak, there’s a way out. 

How? You may ask. It’s straightforward - we use Nayib Bukele for inspiration.

Naybib Bukele, who, in the wake of a gang-violence epidemic in El Salvador, one that had in fact been burgeoning for many years, was elected as president on the promise to end the rampant crime and stabilise the country to protect its citizens.

To do this, Bukele declared a state of emergency in El Salvador, using the military on the streets of gang-affiliated areas, investigating them; going through their belongings, and rationing their food. As of January 2025, Bukele has imprisoned over 80,000 gang-members and has built a new 40,000 capacity prison in Tecoluca, one of the largest in the world.

While Bukele has received criticism for, admittedly in some cases, violating human rights and imprisoning people; even minors, without evidence, for the most part it has made El Salvador a far safer place. The homicide rate has more than halved since 2022, while Bukele currently enjoys an 85% approval rating.

Now, does Britain face the level of crime that El Salvador did, prior to Buekele? Probably not. But what Britain does face is an ever-growing list of laws and regulations that exacerbates the police’s number of jobs, subsequently stretching them thinner and thinner, taking their focus off of crimes of genuine concern. 

Right now in the UK, there are over 80,000 legislative texts. In 2024, 16 public acts were brought in that covered finance, national insurance contributions, trade agreements, transportation, animal welfare, and victims' rights - some fairly prosaic and exorbitant stuff. So is it any wonder why prisons are so full in the UK? We lock people up for almost anything nowadays. People don’t need more laws. In fact, it would seem that less laws may be more helpful. Instead of punishing people for posts on social media, we need to start delivering genuine retribution for actual criminals committing acts of savagery. These superfluous laws demand so much from the police force and yet, they seem to act with considerably less effectiveness. Take rape for example, where in this country, only 2% of reported cases result in the Crown Prosecution Service charging a suspect and taking them to court. 

Some much needed reform would also be welcome when it comes to the police force’s promotion of multiculturalism and diversity, which as we have seen, has tremendous socio-political ramifications. Again, this is something that El Salvador didn’t and still doesn’t have to contend with due to the non-partisan police force that they have and their far, far lower levels of immigration.

Now, it's clear that the UK doesn’t face the issues that El Salvador did, but the odds aren’t fully in our favour. ‘The Bukele Way’, a term that he should coin, doesn’t necessarily mean deploying the army onto the streets of London, but it does mean taking a harsh stance on criminal activity and delivering true retribution for the sake of victims. Essentially, justice (doesn’t it sound funny out-loud?). Seriously though, if this country continues to act so lackadaisical when it comes to keeping our citizens safe, Keir Starmer will pay the price, dearly.