Derby Is Broken

DERBY IS BROKEN – HERE’S HOW WE CAN HELP FIX IT

By Tristan Best

Did you know that knife crime has more than tripled in the last nine years? In 2019, on record there were 874 reported incidents involving a knife or a sharp weapon in Derby alone. Knowing the statistics, there should be somebody trying to help and make a change.

The first knife amnesty in Derby was only opened seven months ago, by the World Peace and Justice organisation, founded in Derby, by Sammy Meleti. Derby can be fixed. Sammy said: “Making a small change now will hopefully impact the future greatly.” The World Peace and Justice organisation is a nonprofit organisation, making a huge change in the Derby community. A knife amnesty is a place or person you can trust that takes knives away from the streets. The process works out in a friendly way in which the individual with the knife is given the opportunity to give the amnesty their bladed article(s), anonymously, protecting their identity from the police. The police are given the bladed articles to dispose of them, by people like Sammy Meleti. Sammy has handed in on average ten knives a month in the last seven months. The whole process is built on trust, and Sammy as the founder of WP&J, has the relationship with the anonymous individual, and a clear correspondence with the local police force. This ensures a trust between the organisation and the police. With knife crime constantly on the rise, we need help. We need more volunteers, more funding and more time, to undoubtedly make a change, and or to fix Derby, as it can be fixed. Unfortunately, we have become, “used to” the constant rise of knife crime and destruction of our beloved city, that we call home. The World Peace and Justice org is looking to work and build with the community.

AVOIDING CONFLICT IS A MUST

With all the war and death constantly going on in this world, why would you want to add to that? Let’s make a change, let’s teach the children to respect life itself. Once you go to the streets, to kill, to take somebody’s life away, you open the door to death, and most definitely prison. Your families will be distraught regardless of the two outcomes of which may take place. Being involved in knife crime isn’t fun or cool. Don’t do it. There is plenty to enjoy in life – don’t change for people, and be your best self. Be creative, be innovative and strive to improve your surroundings at all costs. As much as possible, be the one to break the chain. The World Peace and Justice organisation has made a start in changing the world for the better. The org has already put effort into helping the people of Yemen; as they have managed to raise £300 for food, water and other necessities during the world’s largest hunger crisis, which was caused by an ongoing civil war between governing bodies. In the bigger scheme, £300 isn’t enough to fix Yemen for good, but it still impacts the people who need help – in a greatly positive way. The WP&J organisation continues to help out wherever possible, including the current affairs in Ukraine, by raising more money for people to get water and food. The objective is simple: the more

of us there are together to fight for the cause, the closer we are to curing world injustice. It takes a lot to make a small change when trying to change the world for the better but, there are many other organisations also doing work to help. So, search on the internet to find your own way to make a change.

TACKLING LOCAL HOMELESSNESS

During the colder season, Sammy and his team provide warm clothes like gloves, scarves and hats to keep homeless people warmer during the cold nights. This summer, the team is looking to provide caps, water and other amendments for the warmer weather to ensure every rough sleeper has what they need. It’s difficult for rough sleepers, as it is. Derby has recently had a slight decrease in homelessness, but this doesn’t change the fact that we still have too many people on our streets. Our neighbours Nottingham, however, have had an increase of two more rough sleepers a day, on average. This is crazy to take in, but it’s also fixable – there will always be more work to be done. In Derby, World Peace and Justice could do with some voluntary assistance. If you are interested email: Wpj. organisation@gmail.com Homelessness shouldn’t be a thing but it simply is, so we need to become one as a community and try our hardest to improve and develop our city by supporting our people. OUR PEOPLE!

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I would like us all to picture a world where our youth don’t have to think about leaving the house with a weapon, or even use their fragile minds to allow them to let such avoidable circumstances come in their way. Personally, growing up in Derby, I have seen an alarming number of incidents – all ending badly in blood, stress and tears. Losing someone so close to you so prematurely is something no one should have to deal with, so in this instance I’d like to thank everyone trying to make a change for the betterment of our communities. The people of our planet need help – nobody should be starving in 2022, no matter the country or continent. The constant war and discrimination of one another leads to this, so try to treat people better as it makes a small yet ever-growing change. Imagine you are the individual living out on the streets at night – I could never imagine myself in that position, could you? Living on the streets with no one to seek for help. Have a think about that – I’m sure you’ll agree.