Police hit back as Mersey gun crime goes up

May 23 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE police have defended their tactics on gun crime as Home Office statistics revealed a rise in reported shootings.

The figures apparently show a rise in gun crime in Liverpool from 47 to 59 offences over four months, despite a £250,000 investment from central government.

More investment is promised for Liverpool but the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s Tackling Gangs Action Programme (TGAP) has come under fire.

The programme was rolled out in four cities, including Liverpool, between October and February this year. But in two of the four target cities, the number of shootings in this period actually rose.

Last night detective chief superintendent Steve Moore, of the force’s Matrix team, told the Daily Post the figures failed to paint a true picture of gun crime on Merseyside.

He said: “TGAP initially was only focused on Liverpool but we extended it into Knowsley part way through the programme.

“In Liverpool itself the number of offences declined but because of an emerging problem in Knowsley the figure has risen.” Year on year, he points out figures have begun to fall.

Between October 2006 and April 2007, 72 people were shot but in the corresponding period to April 2008 there were 70 incidents.

“That’s not a massive decrease,” he admits, “but there was a rising trend and that has been reversed.

“And if you look at the March to April figures in 2007, there were 25 shootings but this year that has dropped off to just 11.”

Det Chief Sup Moore said this was just the start of what he believes will be a steady drop off, thanks to the tactics the force is employing.

He said: “We could have used the money the government gave to put boots on streets for a six-month period. But we’ve used it as seed funding to get a joint agency group together involving CPS, probation, children’s services and housing services. The results of this are only just coming though.”

richarddown