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London is on its way to the worst year on record for teenage murders.
“Gangsters don’t seem to care about life the way the general public does,” says PC Jim Hare. “They don’t.”
He is part of the Metropolitan Police unit specifically tasked with targeting gang violence in North London.
27 teenagers have died so far in the capital in 2021. The youngest victim is a 14-year-old boy who was brutally murdered with a sword. For now, at least, the grim record is 29 murders in 2008.
The main cause of deaths this year is guerrilla warfare in some areas – hot spots. There are about 200 specific gangs in London. Every known gang and gang is categorized by the Metropolitan Police according to the extent of their violence.
This list, of course, is kept within the force, but I am told that of the 20 most dangerous gangs in London, about seven are in and around Tottenham. This means that a handful of the most feared and violent gangs in the capital are all living at each other’s doorsteps.
That’s why we chose to spend six months there, investigating why there have been so many gang-related murders this year.
What we found was a story of tension and division between two very different communities – the people who live there, and the Metropolitan Police.
I’m not a gang member, I’m a family member
Moses showed me some of his tattoos. He pointed to the one on his fist that said “FMD”. “That means Farm Mandim, that’s my crew. Because I’m from Broadwater Farm!”
Moses is very famous on “The Farm”. He has lived there his whole life and is equally respected and feared by society.
I’ve spent several weeks trying to meet him. He pointed to another tattoo on his arm.
“That says RIP Mark Duggan man,” he told me. Mark Duggan was shot and killed by a police officer during an operation in Tottenham 10 years ago.
“Mark was my good friend, my brother. I have so many memories of this guy. Like so many memories, we went and met girls together. We grew up together.
“And then we are portrayed as criminals, as gang members, like this, like this. But have any of those people who portray us talk to us and ask us how we feel as a person?”
So what is a gang actually?
“A gang is a group of young people on the street who engage in a range of criminal activities and violence,” according to the Metropolitan Police website.
He continues: “They may also have any or all of the following features: identify or claim territory, have some form of structure feature identification, or be in conflict with other similar gangs.”
It’s the last part of this sentence that really sounds right. The struggle between the sheer number of gangs goes a long way in explaining why so many teenage murders happen in the capital.
In Tottenham and Haringey, for example, there are several prominent bands that abut each other.
Corey Newton was a promising young footballer who narrowly missed his dream of playing professional sports. He fell into what he called “street life” as a teenager.
Evidence of his lifestyle is clearly visible. He has a large scar under his left eye.
“What is this who?” I asked.
And he replied, “Oh, that’s nothing.” “do not worry about that.” Corey wants to move on but I won’t let him go.
I insisted, “Come on, what happened? Is that a stab wound?”
“Nah, man,” he said. “Someone hit me in the face with a huge padlock because they wanted my watch.”
Carry a gold Rolex watch. But as you can see, I still understand it,” he said to me with a proud smile.
Last year, three of his best friends were stabbed to death in separate incidents. Now 26, he tells me he’s trying to leave this world.
“Is it dangerous to roam freely in Tottenham?” I asked.
“Let’s put it this way,” he says, “I could run around here late at night and if some gang members are out doing things for each other that very day and they bump into me, they don’t ask any questions especially because today’s younger generation, They don’t care about who you are.
“If their sons die and come back for revenge, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re here, right. That’s it. You’ll get it.”
Corey insisted he wanted to leave his past behind.
As we said our goodbyes, he said, “Thank you for letting me tell my story. No one normally cares about us.”
“A lot of things happen here but no one will contact us about it, because calling the police is not the thing to do”
PC Jack Wilson told me this while we were driving at Broadwater Farm in Tottenham. “This place is known for tension between residents and the police,” he added.
There are many reasons for this tension.
The relationship between the Met and the community at Spurs has been simmering for years, but really broke down in the ’80s.
In 1985, Cynthia Jarrett, a 49-year-old black woman, died of heart failure after police entered her apartment on Broadwater Farm.
This led to mass riots the next day, in which Keith Blacklock, the riot officer who worked there, died after being stabbed no less than 40 times with two knives and a machete.
Twenty-six years later, in 2011, a local man was shot and killed by a police officer during an operation. His name was Mark Duggan.
Photo: PC Keith Blakelock (L) and Mark Duggan
“The two things everyone is talking about here are PC Keith Blakelock and Mark Duggan,” Inspector Niall O’Neill told me.
He runs the Mitt’s Violence Suppression Unit (VSU) in Haringey, and is known as “Gough”. The unit was created in 2020 to specifically target violent and gang-related crimes.
He added, “Both incidents have affected police work here since then. I know the public’s trust here is not what we would like it to be, but we are working hard to make it happen.”
I spent several weeks with the unit during a violent summer. Their job is difficult. They are tasked with suppressing violence in an area known for it.
Not only that, but Insp O’Neill instructed his officers to connect more with the community. Calm those tensions, bridge the gaps, form relationships. But this is easier said than done.
While on patrol with the team, I asked, “How does the broader community welcome you guys when you go to their area?”
“Most of the time, terribly,” BC Hare replied.
“Personally I think there is a huge divide in this area between the police and the local community, which I don’t know if the police can do more to improve that. And as a unit we really try to focus on that because that’s one of the keys to getting people to help us.
“A lot of people here don’t want to talk to us, a lot of gang members don’t want to talk to us, or even older members of the community don’t talk to us because they might feel the police are racist or we’re not doing things right or doing it illegally.
“I’ll be honest, in my short stint in the police, I don’t feel like I’ve met any racist police officer. The way we operate is completely at odds with that.”
I asked him, “Do you enjoy your work?”
PC Dan Freeman replied, “Putting a knife out of someone’s pocket or bag is why we do it. There’s no better feeling than that. They only carry this knife for one reason in my view.”
“I’m not going to lie, now, it’s the worst time to be a police officer, definitely in my career. The hostility towards the police is the worst it has ever been.
“I’ve had doubts all the way through, of course, but we’re here to help people. That’s our job. We’re here to make people safe. And I love the idea.”
If you are a white person, the Met is a police service. If you’re black, they’re a police force”
Ken Hinds is a community activist for Tottenham, who was there at the 1985 and 2011 riots.
I asked him how the community would respond if the police came to the area to request information about a crime.
“Who are the police?” was his response.
“If you’re a white person, the Met is a police service. If you’re black, they’re a police force”
The night before, I was with the police as they headed to Broadwater Ranch for a routine patrol. “It’s a completely different place at night. It has a completely different atmosphere,” BC Freeman said as the team got off the truck.
Seconds later, a group of young men saw the unit and ran away. “We have contestants!” Wilson shouted on his police radio.
The group of young men lost them, but two other members of the police unit ran around the other side of the property.
BC Freeman knocks one of the guys down. “Hands behind your back now!”
He handcuffed him and told him he would be searched for weapons and drugs.
Seconds later, two young men gathered around them and started watching. Then the third. Then two of the older members came out to watch. I asked him, “Why are you guys surrounded?”
“They’re trying to intimidate us,” said the O’Neill human, “and they think they’re going to stop us from doing our job.”
PC Hare continued: “You have to be careful here as the community will come out of nowhere and ask what you’re doing.”
The community made clear their feelings. The police were not welcome there.
I met one of the locals, a woman named Paulette Campbell. Her son, Marcel, 30, was killed in a stabbing in 2018.
But Bullitt was also in the 1985 Broadwater Ranch riot. She told me, “They all locked us blacks in there, don’t you think that would have been infuriating?
“And that anger was just escalating and exploding.”
Politt was one of 359 people arrested and questioned about the murder.
She said, “The police stabbed me when they kicked me at my door and arrested me and took me to the precinct for three days and terrified me for the death of a police officer about whom I didn’t know, all because I lived on a Broadwater farm.”
She asks Polit if she will forgive the police. She replied, “I don’t think so, no.”
During my six months at Spurs, I asked everyone I came through to find a solution. This is what some of them said.
Insb O’Neill: “I think it’s a long-term problem. It will never be solved overnight. I think we always have to keep working. How can we improve that? It’s with the help of the community.”
Corey Newton: “There will be a solution but I’m not the one to tell you what this is. I may not even live to see the solution.”
Moses, a resident of Broadwater Farm: “There’s no end to this because the police don’t care, and the community doesn’t care.”
PC Hare: “There will be a solution to this problem, but it will take both sides to engage and compromise together.”
Adolescent deaths in London in 2021
• Anas Mazner (17 years) died after being stabbed on January 20, 2021
• Romario Obia (15 years) died after being stabbed on January 26, 2021
• Hani Suleiman (18 years old) died after being stabbed on February 12, 2021
Dickon Patterson (16 years old) died after being stabbed on February 19, 2021
• Ahmed Bakr (19 years) died after being stabbed on February 27, 2021
• Ty Gordon O’Donnell, 19, died after being stabbed on March 3, 2021
• Matza Osu Mensah (18 years old) after being stabbed on March 6, 2021
• Ezra Okobia (14 years old) died in a house fire (classified as murder) on March 6, 2021
• Nikolai Vandev (19 years) died after being stabbed on March 8, 2021
• Hussain Chowdhury (18 years old) died after being stabbed on March 18, 2021
• Levi Ernest Morrison (17 years old) died after being stabbed on April 11, 2021
• Fares Maatou (14 years old) died after being stabbed on April 23, 2021
• Abu Bakr Jah (18 years old) died after being shot on April 26, 2021
• Daniel Laskos (16 years old) died after being stabbed on May 7, 2021
• Taylor Cox (19 years old) died after being shot on June 9, 2021
• Dinardo Brooks (17 years old) died after being stabbed on June 11, 2021
• Jalan Woods Bell (15 years) died after being stabbed on June 11, 2021
• Chun Wat (19 years old) died after being stabbed on June 26, 2021
• Cameron Smith (16 years old) died after being stabbed on July 1, 2021
• Tamim Ian Habimana (15 years old) died after being stabbed on July 5, 2021
• 16-year-old Ken Flynn Harling died after being stabbed on July 6, 2021
• Demarie Roy (16 years old) died after being stabbed on July 11, 2021
• Stelios Avercu (16 years old) died on August 10, after being stabbed on August 1, 2021
• Alex Aganako (18 years old) died after being shot on August 21, 2021
• Hazrat Wali (18 years old) died after being stabbed on October 12, 2021
• Kamran Khaled (18 years old) died after being stabbed on October 28, 2021
• On Thursday, a 14-year-old boy, yet to be named, was killed in Croydon
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Sources 2/ https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigwFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS90aGVyZXMtbm8tZW5kLXRvLXRoaXMtYmVjYXVzZS10aGUtcG9saWNlLWRvbnQtY2FyZS1hbmQtd2UtZG9udC1jYXJlLWluc2lkZS1sb25kb25zLWdhbmctaG90c3BvdC0xMjQ3MjI1MdIBhwFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9hbXAvdGhlcmVzLW5vLWVuZC10by10aGlzLWJlY2F1c2UtdGhlLXBvbGljZS1kb250LWNhcmUtYW5kLXdlLWRvbnQtY2FyZS1pbnNpZGUtbG9uZG9ucy1nYW5nLWhvdHNwb3QtMTI0NzIyNTE?oc=5 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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