【每日电讯报】Prince William: we must learn lessons from violent street gangs

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Prince William: we must learn lessons from violent street gangs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/sundaytelegrapharmedforcesday/5586701/Prince-William-we-must-learn-lessons-from-violent-street-gangs.html

By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter Published: 9:00PM BST 20 Jun 2009


Prince William, a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, has met former gang members through his links to charities Photo: PA

Prince William has revealed for the first time how he held private meetings with former gang members and learnt valuable lessons from them.

In his first major newspaper article – written exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph – Prince William writes with understanding about how gang members are striving for "respect".

He says the challenge the country faces is "how to turn gang members into team members".

Only last week three men were found guilty of murdering Ben Kinsella, 16, after chasing him down a London street in order to restore "respect" after one of them was humiliated by a group of teenagers in a fight.

"It's all about respect," said Detective Chief Inspector John Macdonald, who led the investigation.

Prince William, who celebrates his 27th birthday on Sunday, writes: "Former gang members have told me that it is precisely to find status, respect from others and the role in a community that we all crave that led them to fall in with gangs in the first place.

"One enduring feature of all gangs – and teams – is that they survive on mutual support. They allow their members to earn respect by obeying the rules, and they share clear objectives.

"Essentially, they allow the individual to belong. As such, the fundamental difference – so far as I can see – between violent street gangs and cohesive teams of contented young people is the destructive violence of the former set against the constructive comradeship of the latter.

"The challenge, therefore, seems to me to be to how turn gang members into team members."

Prince William has never forgotten his experiences as a young boy being taken by his mother to visit homeless youngsters and hearing their moving stories.

Diana, Princess of Wales was insistent that the future king should meet disadvantaged people – as well as privileged ones – and obtain an insight into their troubled lives.

Similarly, the Prince of Wales actively encouraged his elder son to observe – and one day help – problem youngsters, especially those who were striving to make a better life for themselves.

Even as a teenager, Prince William took an active interest in the Prince's Trust, his father's 33-year-old charity which helps 40,000 disadvantaged youngsters a year.

Royal aides say that Prince William, who is a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, has met former gang members through his links to two charities – Centrepoint and the St Giles Trust – that help disadvantaged youngsters.

The Prince's thought-provoking article is his personal contribution for this newspaper's Armed Forces supplement, published ahead of next weekend's Armed Forces Day.

"My generation, like any generation before it, is not hell-bent on violence and mayhem – far from it. But I do feel there is truth in the view that society can learn much from British military values and ethos," he writes.

Prince William praises the work of Skill Force, which encourages the positive development of schoolchildren and other youngsters.

The Prince says of the charity: "It is an organisation that takes the best of our military training, skills and life experience, and puts it to work in today's society.

"What makes Skill Force successful is that most of its instructors are ex-Armed Forces and are therefore steeped in the military ethos and have an innate understanding of how this can be applied to help young people – some of them the most hard to reach in our country – inspiring them to adopt a can-do outlook and giving them confidence in their academic and personal lives.

"Whatever the background, people of my age and younger want to make the most of our lives.

"For all sorts of reasons – lack of role model, a disruptive home life, a lack of aspiration in those around them – many find themselves setting off on the wrong path.

"Youth crime and gang violence are issues pretty well constantly in the headlines nowadays.

"Of course, these reports are by no means representative of the vast majority of Britain's young men and women, but I do believe that they are emblematic of a wider problem: so often, young people are just not getting the support or encouragement that they so desperately need, and deserve."

Prince William is currently based at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, where he is training to be a search and rescue pilot.

His brother, Prince Harry, 24, is at the same base where he is learning to fly Apache and lynx helicopters. Prince William hopes to follow in his younger brother's footsteps and see front line action.

Prince William writes: "As anyone who has ever been a sailor, a soldier or an airman knows, serving your country demands team work, initiative and the willingness to take calculated risks.

"Servicemen and women – whatever their age or rank – recognise that this can only be achieved by looking out for one another.

"Over the last few years – indeed, throughout our history – there have been countless examples of when our fighting men and women have taken this to the ultimate degree of self-sacrifice."

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