Gun campaign short-changed

Sep 10 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

YESTERDAY’S initiative aimed at combating gun crime is a welcome step forward in tackling the plague that just won’t seem to go away.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith said she hoped that the city communities involv- ed, in Manchester, London and Birming- ham, as well as Liverpool, would notice a difference this autumn, as a result of the Tackling Gangs Action Programme.

If the initiative pays off, and the increase in undercover and surveillance operations aimed at keeping tabs on gang members actually gets the results that ministers and police officers are hoping for, then there are a number of troubled neighbourhoods around Britain that will have cause to be grateful.

However, the amount of money devoted to this vital campaign has to be quest- ioned. The motives behind the programme cannot be in doubt – but is £1m really sufficient funding to bring about genuine results, particularly when it has to be shared between four cities.

In Liverpool, obviously, the ongoing investigation into the shooting of Rhys Jones will mean more officers on the streets in many areas, particularly Croxteth, and it must also be hoped that there is still a steady stream of intelligence helping Merseyside police to crack down on the pernicious influence of these gun-toting hoodlums.

But, sadly, even after the killer is apprehended and convicted, there will still be a problem – and it is not one that can be resolved by a one-off injection of cash. All four cities concerned in Ms Smith’s new programme deserve a substantial cash commitment not just for when gun crime is hitting the headlines, but in the longer term, too.

And, just as sex education lessons and warnings about drugs are now common in schools, in a way that would have been difficult to contemplate only 10 years ago, maybe inner-city police should con- sider making regular classroom visits to drive home the message about the dan- gers of gun crime, and the devastation it can bring. The more powerful the mes- sage delivered to youngsters on this score, the better the chance that any cash investment in this programme will not be wasted.