[AdyB]

http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/3112818.stm


Q and A: Fighting gun crime


The death of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield in north London has led to fresh questions about gun crime in inner cities. BBC News Online explains the major issues about gun crime - and how its part of a wider problem with inner city drugs.
How much gun crime is there in the UK?

Gun crime has increased in recent years, including a near doubling of handgun offences since 1996, the year of the Dunblane massacre.

In 2001-02, there were some 22,300 firearms offences, a rise of almost a third on the previous year. The number of people killed by firearms was 23.

But gun crime is a complex subject. While it may appear to be rife, it is generally confined to a large number of incidents perpetrated by a small number people in very small areas.

While this is of no comfort to those who may have witnessed gun crime on their own streets, those most likely to be victims of crime are young men.

So who is carrying the guns?

All the evidence suggests that gun crime is not the problem but a symptom of a huge and well established drugs economy.

The worst of the crack dealing takes place in the poorest areas, which are also most likely to be those with the highest concentration of minority communities.

At present, the worst affected are some of London's African-Caribbean communities (hence the phrase of 'black-on-black crime'), centred predominantly among those of Jamaican descent.

That said, there is great concern about rising gun use within other communities in London and elsewhere.

How have the police reacted?

The first unit tasked with targeting gun crime perpetrated against black communities was the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident.

The unit was founded in 1998 after a spate of shootings in Brent and Lambeth.

There are now similar operations targeting gun crime in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds, but they are not directly comparable to Trident.

How effective have these operations been?

In 2002, Trident investigated 24 murders. This year there have been 12 deaths - and in eight cases detectives have charged suspects.

Since the beginning of this year, Trident has seized 94 firearms, 1,906 rounds of ammunition and just over 5kg of Class A drugs.

Detective Chief Inspector John Coles of Operation Trident recently said these successes were down to the growing willingness of communities to speak out.

"People are coming forward and talking to us in a way we never thought possible," he said.

What about elsewhere?

In the West Midlands, Operation Ventara dealt with 2,161 firearms offences in the year to April 2003 - a 5% drop on the previous 12 months.

SPECIALIST GUN CRIME OPERATIONS

Trident: London
Ventara: Birmingham
Goodwood: Manchester
Stealth: Nottingham
Safeguard: Leeds
Atrium: Bristol


However, during the same period, the number of firearms offences dealt with by West Yorkshire police rose from 1,756 to just over 2,000 incidents.

In Nottingham, Operation Stealth has made 350 arrests since September 2002. Avon and Somerset has seen more than 1,000 arrests since the introduction of Operation Atrium two-and-a-half years ago.

But Lee Jasper, chair of the Trident advisory group, says the majority of those involved are now British born.

As their drug trade have become more established, gangs have become more inclined to carry guns to command the respect of rivals, he said.

What about gun amnesties?

The Home Office ran a month-long nationwide gun amnesty in April, partly as a response to the outcry following the killings of Birmingham teenagers Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis in January.

More than 43,000 weapons were handed in to the police over that month - but critics say they were not the weapons on the streets. In London's case, there was an extremely poor response from each of the key Trident areas.

So how else can this be tackled?

Community campaigners at the sharp end say that much more needs to be done to prevent young men from poor areas being sucked into a gang culture which claims to provide respect and standing. This work, they say, has to start at a much younger age.

Secondly, London Mayor Ken Livingstone wants the government to ban the sale of replica firearms.

In many cases, these "imitation" weapons are just a step away from being converted into live firearms - something detectives know is happening in London.

Another frequent call by community activists is that more of the assets seized from drug dealers should be returned to communities to help regenerated the worst-off areas.

The government recently pledged to put £1.5m of seized assets back into areas worst affected by gun crime.

But Lee Jasper said: "It's ludicrous that some £10m recovered by the Metropolitan Police from drug dealers in London last year should find its way to the Treasury and not be reinvested in the communities suffering the problem."

[Spartacus]

Without going into too much depth, I think that allot of gun-crime would be better detected if we ourselves had been armed. 3 or 4 times.. we've been held at RVP points waiting for the ARV's to get there.. when we could be putting in some sort of containment. I'm by no means a match for a fully trained AFO.. but it would make containment allot easier.

p.s. the ARV boys are top blokes and they are a credit. They work very hard for loads of grief and not allot of thanks.