Reply to comment

Published: 16 July 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

THE police officer in charge of tackling north Westminster’s spiralling gang problem has said she would support giving social services a bigger role to stop them recruiting children.

Sue Hill, Detective Chief Superintendent at Westminster Police, spoke out after a week of gang-related violence that saw a 16-year-old and two men in their 20s stabbed in separate incidents – one of which she described as “a Second World War scene” after stepping in to break it up.

None of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries and despite the involvement of around 40 people in the two incidents close to Harrow Road last Friday night, no arrests have yet been made.

Police are also investigating reports of a shooting on the Mozart Estate in Queen’s Park last Monday night, and said the wave of “lawlessness” could have been sparked by intensifying gang rivalries following the murder of 22-year-old electrician Daniel Smith in Harrow Road in May.

Community leaders and politicians have called for calm, while police have kept a blanket order in place to use controversial Section 60 stop and search powers they say will “save lives”.

DCS Hill said: “We need to say enough is enough and stop this revolving door of gang recruitment. Youth violence is our number one priority and we won’t stop until kids stop carrying knives and trust in the police is restored. That means prosecutions.

“I fully support the idea of kids being taken into care if they are going to end up in a gang. It is a real risk just as parental abuse is. And if we don’t intervene, then we end up losing them. We just get a cycle, and in 20 years’ time, we will be fighting the same battle with their children. There needs to  be better parenting, the whole culture needs to change, and kids need role models.”

A source said 17 children are being monitored by Westminster’s social services department  because of the risk of being recruited to gangs. It is not known if any have been placed on the child protection register. The council did not deny the  involvement of social services – a spokeswoman said they “were not saying anything about it”.

This week, the West End Extra was handed an anonymous letter from a 19-year-old living on the Mozart Estate, which raises question marks over police tactics and reflects the frayed relations between officers and young people. He accuses officers of harassing innocent youngsters and “taking zero tolerance too far”.

Among the claims were: officers handcuffing a boy to a lamppost and leaving him for 10 minutes, routinely locking youngsters in police vans without good reason, and taking mobile phones and money from youths during stop and searches. 

Police would not comment directly on the claims in the letter, but denied harassment of young people in the area, adding that the safety and wellbeing of youngsters is their priority.

Police were called to the first incident at 11.20pm after three men were attacked by a gang of eight men in Delamere Terrace near the Warwick Estate. Two of them, aged 24 and 26, received minor knife wounds and were taken to hospital. 

Minutes later they attended a separate incident in which a 16-year-old boy, understood to be a pupil at Westminster Academy, was stabbed three times in the back outside a bakery at the junction of Bourne Terrace and Harrow Road when he split from three friends as they tried to escape a pack of 25 men. 

It is thought the violence is a result of groups from one estate straying into “rival territory” on the Warwick Estate.

So-called “postcode gangs” operate on the Mozart and Warwick estates, and there are also rivalries with the South Kilburn Crew, based on the South Kilburn estate in neighbouring Brent, and a number of Ladbroke Grove-based gangs. Next week youth workers from the charity Brathay are due to accompany 15 members of the SMG Bloods from the Mozart on a residential course in the Lake District commissioned by the council, with Home Office funding to try and wean them away from gang violence.

Speaking about the incidents, DS Hill said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. I saw all these guys tearing down the road – it was so alarming and I didn’t know who were the victims and who were the attackers. 

“I counted at least four knives and I had to try and stop it. I was more worried for them, than me. 

“It’s a miracle nobody died. It was complete chaos and everybody just ran. 

“One of the boys’ fathers thanked me for saving his son’s life, which was touching. But really I hope it shows on some level that we are not the enemy. I think they expected we would arrest them, but we didn’t because we knew they were the victims. I was even attacked. We took them home in our vehicle we were so worried about them. We’ve recovered the knives and will take statements from the victims.”

MP Karen Buck warned of the threat of violence in the wake of the murder of Daniel Smith – believed to be a case of mistaken identity, for which detectives are still hunting the killer. At the time she said: “What we don’t want is people marauding into other areas looking for trouble.”

Last night, Ms Buck added: “I have been very disturbed by reports of what seems to be a significant worsening of tensions between young people from Brent, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Despite some very good work on the ground by police, youth services and youth offending teams, I have asked for a high level of commitments from local authorities and police to deal with the long term problem.”

A spokesman for Westminster City Council said: “There is a significant community benefit to be able to diminish gang culture. If you improve the gang problem you also improve life for the vast majority of young people who have the most to fear from it escalating out of control. The cost of doing nothing and letting gang culture escalate and permeate our communities would be a large price to pay.”

Police are appealling for witnesses to call the investigation team on 020 7321 9314 or
Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.