Fresh investment by London Mayor to tackle violent drug gangs
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New funds to support the Met’s targeted policing action to tackle
London drugs gangs inflicting misery and driving violence in
communities City Hall funding will help prevent the cycle of
reoffending by supporting people into treatment and recovery
Analysis shows London is the highest exporter for County Lines in
the UK with more than half of all teenage murders in capital linked
to gangs More than £7 million will be spent tackling drug...Request free trial
More than £7 million will be spent tackling drug supply lines that are inextricably linked to violence across the country under fresh proposals announced by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today. Despite progress being made, with numbers of homicides, teenage homicides, knife crimes with injury, gun crimes and burglaries in London all lower in 2022 than in 2016, the Mayor is clear that violence is still much too high and the loss of one young life to violence is always one too many. That is why Sadiq has renewed his commitment to tackling one of the major drivers of violence in cities nationwide – the prevalence of criminal drug gangs. The new fund will see a new intensive and whole system approach to tackling drug misuse, with enhanced links into treatment and recovery services combined with funding to support the Met Commissioner’s drive to use precision and data to ensure targeted police operations against violent drug gangs. The investment will bring together partners including the police, local councils and health services to improve communication between treatment providers and courts, prisons, and hospitals with the aim of cutting drug-related crime and breaking the cycle of misuse and reoffending.
The fresh approach comes amid rising concern and evidence that
criminal gangs in London are exploiting the cost-of-living crisis
to recruit young Londoners and expand their county lines networks
across the UK. Research by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime and the Met revealed that despite a reduction in homicides last year, gang-related violence still accounts for a significant proportion of the most serious violence in London, with more than half of shootings, and more than 50 per cent of all teenage homicides in London over the past three years linked to gangs.2 The funding, proposed in the Mayor’s draft budget for 2023/4, will enable the Met to precisely target the most dangerous criminals who cause the greatest harm while doing more to help those recover from drug addictions and misuse.
With millions of Londoners impacted by the cost-of-living crisis
and low-income families in the capital being hit hardest as food
and energy bills soar, the Mayor is concerned that there is now a
real risk of all these factors combining and contributing to the
reduction of violent crime being reversed. Sadiq is determined to
offer young Londoners at risk of being exploited by criminal
gangs a way out. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “There is an undeniable link between county lines drug gangs and violence and that’s why I’ve proposed additional funding that will enable the Met to accelerate its work targeting the most dangerous criminals while helping to break the cycle of reoffending and safeguarding our most vulnerable young Londoners from exploitation. “This is not just a London problem. Without in any way excusing criminality, the cost-of-living crisis is engulfing the entire country. Food and energy bills continue to soar. Too many young people are seeing their opportunities diminish. Without strong leadership, action and intervention I’m concerned that we are now at real risk of seeing the reductions of violent crime we’ve achieved in London being reversed and the menace of County Lines gangs growing nationally.
Cllr Jas Athwal, London Councils’ Executive member
for Community Safety and Violence Against Women and Girls,
said: “The toxic impact of violent drug-related
crime on London’s communities, and especially our youngest
residents, is severe and long-lasting. London boroughs fully
support this renewed effort to address this. We will be working
alongside the Met Police, Mayor, treatment and recovery services,
the voluntary sector and other partners, building on the success
of borough work as part of the Rescue and Response Programme. These proposals will be considered in the Mayor’s draft Budget for the GLA which will be published in due course at: www.london.gov.uk/budget
The Mayor’s draft Budget will be considered by the London
Assembly on 26 January 2023 and the final budget on 23 February
2023.
+ The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime is focussed on investing in programmes to better target and respond to criminal exploitation of young people. This includes the London Gang Exit Programme and Rescue and Response service, which supports young people who are vulnerable and caught up in county lines drug distribution networks. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/further-18m-invested-in-successful-programme https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-helping-young-londoners-away-from-gangs + Record investment from City Hall in the Met and London’s Violence Reduction Unit has meant violent crime in the capital has reduced since 2016, with knife crime, gun crime, burglary and teenage homicides all falling – bucking the national trend.
+ Latest crime stats Crimes which have fallen over the total of the Mayoralty (twelve-month period to May 2016 as compared to twelve-month period to November 2022):
+ In 2018, the Mayor set up the first Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in England and Wales to lead an approach to tackling violence that is rooted in prevention and early intervention. London’s VRU is funding intervention coaches in police custody, A&E departments and major trauma centres in the capital’s hospitals. They all work to deliver teachable moments in a young person’s life to help them turn their back on violence. This includes measures to support families, funding to keep young people in education, investment in the vital role played by youth workers and mentors, and support and resources for communities. The Mayor is determined to end the criminal exploitation of young Londoners by gangs and wider criminal networks as this is a known driver of violence affecting young people in our city. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime is focussed on investing in programmes to better target and respond to criminal exploitation of young people. Sadiq is also investing record sums in policing to boost the number of neighbourhood officers and help supress violence in local neighbourhoods this summer and beyond.
+ In May 2022, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced he was setting
up a new body to look at the effectiveness of the UK’s drugs
laws, focusing on cannabis. Made up of independent experts, the
London Drugs Commission (LDC) will spend around a year
considering a range of evidence regarding the impacts of cannabis
on peoples’ lives and communities. It will form a series of
evidence-based conclusions about the effectiveness of UK drugs
laws on reducing any harmful impacts associated with cannabis and
will use these to underpin any recommendations for consideration
by the Mayor and others as appropriate. + The Mayor's London Drugs Forum, jointly chaired by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and the Mayor's Senior Health Advisor, is a strong multi-agency partnership bringing together criminal justice and health agencies to develop an effective pan-London whole system response to drug related harms and crimes. The Forum provides a coordinated approach to address the complex relationship between drugs, crime and anti-social behaviour, health inequalities and deprivation, and provides strategic oversight of criminal enforcement of drug related crimes and delivery of drug treatment and recovery interventions. The Forum is committed to the vision that there will be a reduction in both drug related crime and drug related deaths in London. |