By Tom Chadwick
GANGS in the UK are moving their attentions away from territorial disputes and becoming more focused on drugs and money, according to a ground breaking report from Waltham Forest Council.
The independent academic report entitled ‘From Postcodes to Profits’ compiled by London South Bank University and commissioned by the council finds gangs are more money orientated and ruthless in the drugs trade and less linked to postcodes than they were in a comparative report published a decade ago.
The report also found that rising competition in London’s drug market has led to gangs targeting towns outside of the capital commonly known as ‘county lines’ operations.
The authors of the report published in 2017 spoke to current and former gang members to better understand the behaviour, recruitment and purpose of gangs. It found that attention had shifted away from an emotional sense of belonging to a postcode that needs to be defended with territory now viewed as a marketplace needing to be maintained.
One participant who was interviewed in the report said, “It’s not about postcodes any more. It’s about money.”
The findings showed a new emphasis on financial gain compared to a previous report in Waltham Forest in 2007. This was particularly seen in a willingness to form alliances with other gangs, previously unheard of and an aggressive expansion into new markets outside London.
Further to our County Lines article published earlier this month, the report also found evidence of ‘cuckooing’ which is the practice of occupying a vulnerable drug users home for the purpose of drug dealing activity without the need for a gang base. The report also confirmed that children are commonly trapped and enforced unwillingly into gang membership.
A police operation in Norfolk aimed at curtailing the drug trade in the area has seen 1,024 people arrested in the Norfolk postcode since November 2016. Of these, the minority were local, with over 800 not having a Norfolk postcode. Further investigations found 500 gang members from London had recently left a criminal “footprint” inside Norfolk. “It was a bit of an eye opener,” said Sonia Humphreys, chief inspector of Norfolk Constabulary.
Transport police have now been briefed to look out for young black children traveling alone to Norfolk, with most setting out from Finsbury Park and Islington rail stations.
Nick Davison, assistant chief constable of Norfolk Constabulary talked of the concept of “ultra-violence” where younger gang recruits get status within the ranks by executing acts of increasingly outrageous savagery.
Children who attempt to escape are tortured. A 16 year old reported missing from London was found by Norfolk police carrying a kitchen knife and 30 wraps drugs. In custody they discovered his body was covered with scarring suggesting he had been burnt with boiling liquid.
The recent findings come after London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan warned drug users that recreational drug use was not a “victimless crime” and that he had seen evidence from authorities of a clear link between cocaine consumption and the rising levels of violence in the capital and further afield.