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Violent crime in the UK has significantly increased. Gang culture is seen as a status symbol for young people. In recent weeks we have seen a lady beaten unconscious in Northamptonshire, pounced on by a gang of four young women. In Ashford Kent a boy has been slashed in the face by a group of ten year olds wielding a knife. Stoke-on- Trent has increased its night bus service to counteract street robberies. Guns have replaced knives. In 2001-02 there were some 22,300 firearms offences, a rise of almost a third on the previous year. Evidence suggests that gun crime is not the problem but a symptom of a huge well-established drugs economy. The escalation of gun crime in London is serious. It has an intimate connection with the rise of crack cocaine. The worst of crack dealing takes place in the poorest areas, which are almost likely to be those with highest concentration of minority communities. Rival drug gang leaders have become vulnerable, so much so, that they wear bullet proof vests as a precaution. This is not a new phenomenon; there has been a steady increase since 1998 when the Metropolitan Police Force launched its Operation Trident in the wake of a spate of shootings in Brent and Lambeth. Since the launch of Trident, the unit has seized 94 firearms and 1,906 rounds of ammunition. However, this is minute to what still exists on the streets. In the last twelve months firearms offences dealt with by West Yorkshire police rose from 1,756 to over 2,000 incidents. It is also interesting to note that these are reported offences and do not account for people who are being threatened on a daily basis by gangs who entice businesses for protection money. Last April the Home Office ran a month long nationwide gun amnesty, partly as a response to the national outcry following the killings of the Birmingham teenagers Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis on New Year’s Day. Although 43,000 weapons were handed in to the police over that month, there was an extremely poor response in the London area. As editor of Edges Magazine, I have been involved in the street scene of London for the last nine years. In the last two years I have seen a drastic change; violence is endemic. I have felt more vulnerable in London than I have in New York or Rio de Janeiro. One of the most vulnerable groups are young women from countries such as Albania and parts of Eastern Europe. They can be abducted and smuggled into this country where they face a life of prostitution, many can also be introduced to drugs and they become subservient to the gangs who employ them. A decade ago, gun crime would hit the national news but now it is often just confined to the local newspaper. Our nation continues to mourn the death of a young seven year old girl who became the innocent victim as she was shot in the back and killed after watching her father being gunned down. It is beyond belief when you imagine a young child brutally murdered because she properly witnessed the person who killed her father. It is clear that our streets have not become safer by September, as the prime minister promised in June. |
