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10 September 2007
Focusing our attention on the areas that need it most.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced a renewed effort to prevent gun crime and violence among young people.
The plan focuses on the areas where the problems are worst, including troubled neighbourhoods in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.
These are the areas identified by police as having the worst problems with gang activities and gun crimes - these hot spots account for more than half of all gun crimes in England and Wales.
Working together with police, local authorities and other agencies, the government will roll out a package of initiatives tailored for each area with a mixture of increased police presence and community reassurance. All this will be led by efforts to prevent young people from being drawn into lives of crime in the first place.
A new dedicated national unit will run the anti-gang programme, and its members will come from central government, local authorities and frontline agencies.
With £1m in additional funding, it will be overseen by a central ministerial taskforce on guns and gangs and headed by the Home Secretary.
Key actions to tackle gun and gang crime
Actions will include:
- covert operations and surveillance targeting gangs
- high-visibility police presence on the streets in troubled areas, especially around schools
- use of civil orders to restrict the activities of known gang members
- greater witness protection, including safe houses for victims and witnesses
- mediation services for gang members
- crackdown on illegal gun imports
- enhanced local community forums to improve communication between police and residents
- extra activities at local schools to keep kids off the streets
Getting guns off the streets
The Home Secretary said that as most gun crime is concentrated in a few urban areas, these are the places where police attention should be most strongly directed.
'I am clear that we must get guns off our streets, and tackle the serious gangs who are creating the most problems,' she said. 'Around half of all gun crime is committed in just three police force areas - West Midlands, Greater Manchester and London - but you are less likely to be a victim of gun crime than you were ten years ago.'
Still, the recent tragic shootings of a number of young people has led the government to strongly refocus its efforts in protecting young people from gun and gang crime.
The Home Secretary has already commissioned the Association of Chief Police Officers to provide an assessment of the nature and scale of gun crime across the country, especially crime that involves gangs or young people. This will include specific proposals for what the government, police and other agencies could do to further tackle gun and gang crime.
'Some cities have seen great reductions in gun crime,and we can learn lessons there that we can replicate elsewhere,' the Home Secretary said.
Police now have tough new powers to stop and search anyone they believe to be carrying a weapon, and thousands of handguns have been seized - 2,000 in London alone. But there is still clearly more to be done.
'That is why today I am announcing renewed action and support in these cities in the shape of increased enforcement and community reassurance, coupled with support for families and work with schools,' the Home Secretary said.
