An anti-knife campaigner has heaped praise on GB News for "allowing him to voice his opinion" after being branded the "Katie Hopkins of knife crime" by a radio station he had previously been interviewed on.
Byron Highton hailed The People's Channel during his interview with Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce on Britain's Newsroom, declaring that the broadcaster is helping to "tell the truth" about the issue of youth crime in the UK.
Highton's frustrations come as a police watchdog has called for officers to "do better" in tackling anti-social behaviour.
Inspector of Constabulary Lee Freeman urged for a "renewed focus" on increasing staff for neighbourhood police teams, who are often the first to deal with such incidents.
Byron Highton has praised GB News for 'telling the truth' on Britain's youth crime
Getty / GB News
Freeman declared that "our communities must feel confident their local force will tackle anti-social behaviour effectively".
Reacting to the report on GB News, Highton claimed that there are "two main issues" affecting the UK's police forces today - "there's not enough of them" and they are "not paid enough".
Highton explained: "It's not glamorised enough for anyone to want to be a police officer, and when you're raising kids in such a toxic environment that which we are currently doing, kids don't want to be a police officer now.
"The police have not got enough power. They've not got enough flexibility to say the truth and treat people how they deserve to be, dependent on the crime."
A police watchdog has called for officers to "do better" in tackling anti-social behaviour
PA
When asked what the solution is to the depleting number of police officers, Highton stated: "We need a police force like they do in other countries - with a little bit of fear comes a whole lot of respect.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
"Police officers need to be equipped with what they need to deal with what's going on. We're not dealing with kids in the 90s, we're talking about prepubescent teenagers running around with knives that are longer than they are tall, running around stabbing each other to death in this country.
"And we've got police that are running around with a pair of handcuffs. If you believe the police is to blame for everything, you're naive. If you don't believe that there are some bad police officers, you're also naive."
When pressed by Bev on whether it is a "collective responsibility" of parents, teachers and the community to help tackle youth crime, Highton was elated by the question, exclaiming: "I'm so glad you just asked that because honestly, it's crazy how I've been saying this for seven years and only over the last month, amazing people like GB News have finally let me say my opinion.
"How knife crime is how it is because of the music industry and how evil it is, and the clothing brands and the e-cigarette companies make billions a year marketing a generation of kids that think it's okay to rap about treating a girl like a prostitute because that's how you could become famous."
Byron Highton says he can 'finally air his opinion' on the impact of rap music on youth crime in the UK
GB News
Praising GB News further, Highton continued: "The scary thing is when I say I love GB News, when you and me have this opinion and tell the truth, the last radio station that dared to air me saying that the music industry, the people behind the scenes are evil, do you know what I got called? The Katie Hopkins of knife crime.
"You tell the truth and you get the book thrown at you."
Highlighting the scale of youth crime related to not only knives but vaping too, Highton concluded: "If vapes were meant to stop smoking, they would only be available via the NHS in Great Britain.
"If people knew what was going on in schools with kids stabbing each other, jumping each other, attacking teachers over a plastic vape, let alone knife crime, I guarantee you everyone would start watching GB News right now and be saying that we are telling the truth."