Policing gangs in London

This seminar will concentrate on the policing of gangs and serious violence in the capital, outlining the current landscape, policing, partnership and policy responses, and what can be done to improve them.

Whilst gangs are far from a new phenomenon in the UK, for the last decade they have featured at the forefront of media, political and public discourse on knife crime, serious and fatal youth violence, and the illegal drugs trade. With input from leading academics and practitioners in the field, this seminar explores how gangs currently are understood and policed. The panel will present recent research findings across a range of areas from the evolution of the street gang, the rise of ‘county lines’ drug dealing and the scope and effectiveness of current policing and partnership responses.

Leading academic in the field Professor Simon Harding outlines how gangs and drug markets have evolved in ways which amplify serious violence, and how policing and partnerships are struggling to keep up.

Former Trident analyst Dr Tom Davies provides a practitioner perspective practitioner perspective insight into the processes and mechanisms which combine to shape the Metropolitan Police Service’s understanding of and response to the gang.

Dr Paul Dawson, Head of Evidence & Insight at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime discusses the difficulties in measuring the impact of policing activity in relation to gangs, and provides a real-world example of how an innovative methodology provided insight into the effectiveness of the Gangs Violence Matrix.