The news that another drive by shooting took place on the streets of the capital last night, in crime infested Holloway has raised no eyebrows in the media, reflecting the acceptance that this city's streets are lawless, and criminals act with impunity. The phone-ins today on the BBC have been totally absorbed by Jade and Gazza.
The new head of the Metropolitan Police has a massive problem ahead of him, he has 31,000 police officers to maintain law and order in a population of 10 million people. The gang culture in London is getting stronger, with reports from underworld sources saying that the recession is helping gangs become stronger and "more relevant".
One gang member known as "Carlos" a member of a Turkish crew in north London said:
"We operate a business here, I have cash, I have men to enforce what we want to happen in our areas and we are fully aware of the law and its limitations."
Many of these "crews" live in affluent areas in London and are providing much needed cash to members, and are even acquiring properties making them a major force to be dealt with.
The Turks, Albanians, Algerians and Kurds are the main ethnic groups in London's underworld who are making the recession work for them, with cash from drugs and prostitution and other illegal activities being pumped into legal businesses.
But how do we confront this massive problem? When you have a group or even an entire sub-culture operating beyond the law, they are the law, the police are simply an obstacle. The fear of the law has gone.
Sir Paul Stephenson need’s to improve intelligence within these "closed" communities and begin to form elite units who are able to use weapons effectively, able to intercept intelligence, and crucially able to speak the language of these foreign gangs. It’s no good employing a copper from Newcastle or Dundee on an assignment to infiltrate and break up a gang of Yardies or Albanians.
Moreover a drive by shooting is something that the Met cannot even with the best intelligence prevent. But what the Met must do is to have a body of men and women who are versatile to the changing demographics of the street, able to act on intelligence, and break criminal syndicates. That is not happening. There is too much emphasis on playing it safe and in today’s war on serious crime, the criminal is not one step ahead but at least 50.
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was coy about whether she would meet Iranian delegates at an international conference on Afghanistan, and she urged Tehran to play a positive role in helping stabilize its neighbor.
