US 'CEASEFIRE' TACTIC BID TO TACKLE GANGS - Radical new strategy from the States to bring end to violence

Published: 03 September 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

A RADICAL police initiative credited with breaking the rule of street gangs in American inner cities could be coming to Westminster.

Officials from City Hall and the Metropolitan Police have outlined plans to introduce Boston Operation Ceasefire on streets and estates in the north of the borough where the cycle of gang-related violence has escalated over the past year.

The tough strategy, first used successfully in Boston in 1996 and since extended to Chicago and Los Angeles, aims to disrupt gang ­culture by taking a zero tolerance approach towards the most violent offenders and offering a path away from crime to youngsters at risk of getting sucked into “postcode” gangs.

It is one of a package of measures contained in the first Westminster Serious Youth ­Violence and Gangs Strategy – a copy of which was obtained by the West End Extra this week.

Others include extending intelligence-gathering operations into schools, setting up a “helpline” for gang members and giving social services a bigger role in countering the influence of gangs.

Professor Gloria Laycock, director of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at UCL, said: “It’s a great idea as long as it is adapted properly to the conditions on the ground. You can’t just plonk a US model in the middle of a British city. I hope they do it – because they’ve been talking about it for a long time.”

Brathay, the youth charity that recently took members of the SMG Blood gang, based on the Mozart Estate in Queen’s Park, on a residential course in the Lake District, is also being considered for a similar scheme with Lisson Grove gang the Lisson Green Men.

The strategy appears to mark a shift in approach to the problem, an acknowledgement that traditional police measures such as extended sentences for carrying knives and stop and searches are not working.

The toll of serious youth violence in north Westminster was felt sharply this summer when 22-year-old electrician Daniel Smith was murdered outside a Harrow Road takeaway in May in what is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity for which police still have not charged anyone.

There has been a wave of violence in the aftermath of the killing   the cause of which is said to be an ongoing turf war between post­code gangs in Queen’s Park, South Kilburn, Ladbroke Grove, Church Street and Harlesden. Last week, MP Karen Buck spoke of her shock at being caught in the crossfire of a shoot­ing on the Mozart Estate.

The Boston “miracle”, as the Ceasefire has become known, reduced crime in the city by around 50 per cent in two years.

Put together up by Harvard academic David Kennedy, Ceasefire works by inviting gang members to face-to-face meetings with police and community leaders known as “call ins”. They are then challenged about their violent lifestyles in a form of moral engagement and offered a choice between punishment or help. Those who renounce their gang are given help with jobs, housing, counselling and support to get their lives back on track. 

Studies in the US show it works through “call-ins” exposing tough street-codes that bind gang members together to be hollow, often by staging emotional confrontations with victims.

The 10-page Westminster strategy report states: “Consideration given to adopting the Boston Operation Ceasefire approach in Westminster where those who wish to exit the gang lifestyle are given support, while using enhanced enforcement techniques against those who continue to engage in serious violence. The approach would focus on individuals rather than the gang as a whole.”

Council bosses would not comment on specific details of the strategy nor could they give an indication of the cost of funding the projects.

Councillor Daniel Astaire, cabinet member for society, families    and adult services, said: “It is important that Westminster Council, jointly with the local police and other relevant agencies, has a clear strategy to prevent young people’s involvement in serious youth violence in the first place.”

A spokeswoman for Westminster police said: “The strategy is aimed at tackling serious youth violence in the borough, dealing robustly with those individuals or groups who are causing problems for others and ensuring that we are all doing everything in our power to reduce the number of young people who become involved in violence and disorder within Westminster.”