Gun Crime Tragedies
Tribune
The recent murder of seven year old Toni Ann Byfield once again put gun crime in the headlines. Tragically although it is unusual for a seven year old to be shot in this way, gun crime is an everyday reality for the community I represent in Hackney. The number of gun crimes has doubled in recent years and gun crime is an issue not just for the immediate communities where it happens, but for all of us. The existence of young men who are so socially excluded and value themselves so little that gun crime is a way of life is a standing reproach to all of us. I believe that to have a successful war against gun crime, the police need to do a great deal more to win the confidence of the community, particularly the black community. It is not normally a secret who commits these crimes but people are unwilling to come forward to say what they know. This is partly because they are terrified of the criminals. But it is also because of a lack of confidence in the police. In Stoke Newington police station alone, we had a major corruption scandal in the 80’s where policeman were confiscating drugs off one set of criminals only to resell it to other favoured criminals. And we have seen a whole series of deaths in custody going back to Trevor Monerville in the 1980’s. All of the deaths in police custody in recent years have been black or Irish and there has never been a case where a policeman had even been reprimanded for one of these deaths. It is no surprise then that it is difficult to get the community to work with the police. I have set up a local trident group in Hackney to try and bring the community and police together. We also need to look at the underlying social alienation which provides a breeding ground for gun crime. For some years now I have campaigned around the issue of black underachievement in schools. Recent research shows that in London every ethnic group is catching up with white children and in some cases, notably Chinese children, they have overtaken white children. Even children for whom English is a second language, once they have mastered English, do very well. Afro Caribbean boys are the only ethnic group who continue to fall further behind.
In Parliament, I set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime to bring together MP’s of all parties and from all over the country to work on this issue. I have been working with colleagues to highlight this subject and to urge my Government to make tackling gun crime one of its top priorities. Some progress has been made, such as the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill which made the sale, importation and distribution of Air Cartridge weapons illegal but this is not enough and there is still much more that could be done by the Government, police and local communities.
Whilst we believe that the numbers of specialist Authorised Firearms Officers should be increased to deal more effectively with specific and targeted operations, it would be quite wrong to introduce the universal arming of police. That would make the situation worse.
Many people who suffer at the hands of criminals, or who know of their identities, live in fear of attack and are afraid to give evidence that may bring these criminals to justice. Witness protection schemes should be extended to gun crime incidents in order to regain the trust of local communities. The police should also work to improve low public trust by increasing the number of convictions, supported by strong penalties, and need to explain and review the system used for informants who are given immunity from prosecution.
Gun crime is often only reported when a life is lost. The true extent to which guns play a part in crime goes largely unreported, and so the Government should act to produce statistics on a quarterly basis, and hospitals and medical practitioners should be obliged to report gun related injuries to the police. Only once the full extent of gun related crime is realised it can be effectively dealt with.
The Government, in partnership, must act now to ensure that the scourge of gun crime is halted, so that communities can live safely without fear and so that innocent children like Toni-Ann Byfield are protected in the future.
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