The Feijenoord district tries to get ahead but keeps being confronted with its tragic past. During the summer of 2021 Feijenoord was mentioned in the national media because of five shootings in a period of three weeks. Additionally, there have been at least nineteen incidents involving knives and firearms in the district this summer. Robby Roks, Associate Professor of Criminology at Erasmus School of Law, and Gijs Custers, sociologist at Erasmus University went on a tour through the Feijenoord district where they discussed these developments.
Walking through the Oranjeboomstraat, the main street of the Feijenoord district, Roks talks about his research, in which he searched for the connection between the violent incidents among the youth in Rotterdam, drill rap culture, and social media. “Problems occur in the Oranjeboomstraat, but also the Southern part of Rotterdam as a whole. On behalf of the municipality, we are now going to conduct follow-up research into knife possession and use at schools throughout Rotterdam," according to Roks. In addition to the research, the police recently placed cameras at a central point in the district, the Persoonsdam. “I doubt if that will have a huge impact. However, many of the concerns that exist involve reverting to these types of technologies,” according to Roks.
“It is difficult to say whether there is an increase in knife violence”, according to Roks. “There appears to be a gradual upward trend, but this cannot be determined with certainty because it cannot be adequately compared with previous years. When you list all the stabbing incidents, there seems to be a considerable increase. Nevertheless, this can also be a media frame. There is certainly more attention for it from the police and the municipal.”
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