Gangland shootings lead to big rise in London gun crime

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Gangland shootings lead to big rise in London gun crime

Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent
21.01.10

Gun crime increased dramatically in London last year even though the total number of offences fell, new figures revealed today. Violent attacks were also up.


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Senior officers said there were “grave concerns” over the rises.
The number of offences involving guns — which also includes cases where criminals claimed to be armed — soared by 49 per cent to 3,306 cases, up from 2,224 in 2008.
While many involved air guns or even fake or imitation weapons, senior detectives have told the Standard there was a worrying rise in the number of gangland shootings.
Overall crime in the capital in 2009 was at its lowest level for 10 years, with significant falls in youth violence and knife attacks.
But gangsters engaged in drug and turf wars are increasingly using firearms to settle scores, and often only the skill of paramedics prevented shootings becoming murders.

Commander Maxine de Brunner said: “Overall, crime continues to fall, which is great news for London.
“In particular, falls in homicide, youth violence and knife crime represent continuing success in tackling these offences. However, the Met is not complacent. We continue to tackle those challenges head-on.”
The number of youth violence cases fell by 3.5 per cent to a total of 20,272, meaning there were 725 fewer victims last year.
Knife crime, which claimed the lives of 10 teenagers, fell 7.9 per cent — a drop of 1,037 offences.
London's murder rate also fell to its lowest rate in recent history — with 130 homicides, compared with 155 in 2008.
The number of teenage murders was halved from a record total of 30 in 2008 to 15 last year.

Senior detectives say the success in tackling knife and youth violence is mainly due to tougher intervention on the streets, with massive rises in the number of stop and searches.
However, there were increases in several other categories of crime. Residential burglaries rose by nearly six per cent to 62,081.
Violent crime also rose, though only slightly, to a total of 175,000 offences. There was a 24 per cent increase in the number of rapes, up from 2,131 to 2,646.

Cases of homophobic crime rose by 27 per cent and race crime was up by seven per cent.
The total number of crimes in London fell by more than two per cent to 832,439 offences, down from 851,721 offences in 2008.
The Met said there were 20,000 fewer victims of crime last year than 2008.

Gangland shootings lead to big rise in London gun crime | News