Call to exclude gun crime families

12 April 2012

Families who harbour young men with guns should be banished from their communities to help tackle gun crime in Britain, a police chief has reportedly said.

Chief Constable of Merseyside Police Bernard Hogan-Howe writes in the Daily Telegraph that not only should teenagers involved in gun crime be excluded from their communities, but in some cases their families as well.

He writes: "Teenagers found to be involved in gun crime should be excluded by being sent to prison or other secure accommodation. When these children come from families where crime is an inherent way of life and they harbour those with guns I think action should be taken to exclude them.

"Once taken away from the community these families should be managed by agencies involved in the criminal justice system and local authorities. Exclusion is essential so that the rest of the community can feel safe and enjoy their day-to-day lives without fear."

Also now vital is tightening the criminal justice system to compel witnesses and victims to give evidence to help break the "wall of silence" over gun crime, and measures to tackle the importation and supply of weapons, he said.

He writes: "Most of the victims of gun crime who survive, either don't want to make a complaint or give us the information to enable us to track down their attackers. This can either be as a result of intimidation or their own involvement in crime."

He said he did not believe gun crime in Britain had reached crisis proportions, but that there was "no room for complacency".

His comments come days after a gun crime summit in London following the murder of two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old in the capital.

The Daily Telegraph claims that the number of teenagers murdered or unlawfully killed in England and Wales has doubled in the last 10 years.

It said it had obtained Home Office figures which showed that 35 victims aged 13 to 19 were killed in 1997-8 compared with 69 victims in 2005-6.

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