OUTREACH workers have asserted that the community holds the key to solving knife crime, in the wake of the stabbing of an 18-year-old in Enfield last week.

The teenager was stabbed five times in broad daylight in St Alphege Road, Lower Edmonton, last Wednesday in a suspected mugging.

He was still being treated in hospital this week after suffering knife wounds to his buttocks, chest and leg in the attack in a quiet residential street at 1.30pm.

Police have arrested one 19-year-old man and are searching for two others in connection with the incident.

Outreach workers this week claimed knife crime is an issue that cannot be solved until the community comes together to fight it and when young people feel safe on the streets.

Ken Hinds, of the Ruff Diamond project, said police stop-and-search tactics are not working because teenagers can still arm themselves “with impunity”.

“I honestly believe that until we get to the root of the problem as to why they find it necessary, no amount of policing is going to prevent someone picking up a knife and walking with it.”

Mr Hinds organised a knife and gun crime conference in May, and said that young people at the event were caught up in the catch-22 of carrying knives for safety.

He said: “They don't care about getting four years for carrying a knife, because they they think if they don't they're going to get killed.”

Omar Days, 23, of the Independent Edmonton Green Development Committee, said efforts to tackle knife crime in the wake of last year's events had been “moderately successful”, but the authorities still need to “actually listen to people”.

“The violence has gone down, I'm pleased to say, but there's still a lot of work to be done,” he said. “Nothing happens overnight.”

A BBC investigation last year, aired in the wake of tit-for-tat gang murders, revealed gangs operating within distinct postcode boundaries.

Mr Days said a lot of grass-roots pilot projects and community groups are now springing up that are working to break down barriers between young people.

But he added: “There's no panacea that makes it go away, there's no one thing that will solve it, there are lots of things that have to be done coming together.”

Police have appealed for witnesses to help them trace the two stabbing suspects still at large.

They are all described as black males, aged between 15 and 19 years of age and approximately 5ft 9inches in height. One was wearing a grey hooded top and another a black hooded top.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call Acting Detective Sergeant Andy Cuthbert on 0208 345 4404 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.