Post by shoreman on Oct 27, 2006 16:41:06 GMT -5
Britain's violent inner cities are living in the shadow of the gun, survey shows
By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent
Published: 27 October 2006
news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article1932741.ece
Birmingham city centre is the country's "gun capital", according to the findings of a comprehensive survey of firearms offences by The Independent.
The next highest concentration of gun crimes is found in Manchester city centre, with areas of Cleveland and south London also appearing in the top 10. The area with the lowest level of shootings and firearms incidents in England and Wales is west Norfolk, followed by two areas of Northamptonshire.
The findings came as the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) met in Birmingham yesterday to discuss gun crime.
The firearms league table of the 43 police forces in England and Wales is the most detailed examination yet of regional gun trends. Using Freedom of Information requests, firearms figures in the year up to April 2005 were obtained for about 230 police command units - the smallest areas where gun statistics are available nationally - from all forces in England and Wales. The number of offences was divided by the population of each zone to give a gun ratio per resident. Offences include any incident where the weapon, including airguns, is fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person, or used in a threat.
In the top 10 most dangerous zones, there is one firearms incident for fewer than 1,000 residents. Central Birmingham has one incident for every 207 residents. This compares with the "safest" area, West Norfolk, where police officers recorded just one incident for every 66,133 residents.
While the survey is heavily slanted in favour of quiet, rural areas, it does provide a comparison between similar areas, such as cities. One of the most surprising findings is that despite Manchester, Nottingham and London's reputations for shootings and gun-related crime, the West Midlands Police have six out of the top 10 "worst" areas. This includes Aston, Hands-worth and Stechford in Birmingham, north Dudley, and east Wolverhampton.
Birmingham and the surrounding areas have suffered in recent years from a spate a gang-related shootings, most notoriously the drive-by murders of Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and a race riot in Lozells last year, although a series of initiatives have seen the number of shooting incidents in the area drop by 14 per cent in the past year.
Nationally the trend for an increase in firearms incidents was reversed last year with a drop of 8 per cent in England and Wales, down to 10,267. In recent years the number of homicides caused by firearms has ranged from about 80 to 100 a year. It should also be noted that most firearms incidents do not result in injury - of the 75 recorded in central Birmingham there were 12 injuries and 33 cases of the weapons being used to threaten people.
Manchester lives up to its nick-name of "Gunchester" with the two halves of the city centre scoring second and third in the league table. Their combined score is 660 firearms incidents from a total residential population of about 380,000. Again gang and drug-related violence have been credited for the more serious shooting incidents.
Despite all the publicity Nottingham has received for fatal shootings in recent years the city comes 17th on the list, with one firearms incident for every 1,141 residents.
London has six boroughs in the top 20, with the highest, Southwark, at 10th place. Gun crime initiatives in the capital, particularly against gangsters involved in crack cocaine, are proving successful at driving down the number of firearms incidents, but there is growing evidence that younger people are arming themselves.
Cleveland has an unexpectedly high concentration of firearms incidents, with the police district of Langbaurgh, which includes the deprived areas of Grangetown and South Bank, coming ninth. It had one gun offence for every 926 residents.
At the opposite end of the scale the rural Western police district of Norfolk, which includes the towns of King's Lynn, Downham Market, Thetford, Dereham and Hunstanton, recorded four firearms incidents for a population of 264,533, or one offence for 66,133 residents.
The tables rely on police forces to provide information on firearms incidents as defined by the Home Office.
By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent
Published: 27 October 2006
news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article1932741.ece
Birmingham city centre is the country's "gun capital", according to the findings of a comprehensive survey of firearms offences by The Independent.
The next highest concentration of gun crimes is found in Manchester city centre, with areas of Cleveland and south London also appearing in the top 10. The area with the lowest level of shootings and firearms incidents in England and Wales is west Norfolk, followed by two areas of Northamptonshire.
The findings came as the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) met in Birmingham yesterday to discuss gun crime.
The firearms league table of the 43 police forces in England and Wales is the most detailed examination yet of regional gun trends. Using Freedom of Information requests, firearms figures in the year up to April 2005 were obtained for about 230 police command units - the smallest areas where gun statistics are available nationally - from all forces in England and Wales. The number of offences was divided by the population of each zone to give a gun ratio per resident. Offences include any incident where the weapon, including airguns, is fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person, or used in a threat.
In the top 10 most dangerous zones, there is one firearms incident for fewer than 1,000 residents. Central Birmingham has one incident for every 207 residents. This compares with the "safest" area, West Norfolk, where police officers recorded just one incident for every 66,133 residents.
While the survey is heavily slanted in favour of quiet, rural areas, it does provide a comparison between similar areas, such as cities. One of the most surprising findings is that despite Manchester, Nottingham and London's reputations for shootings and gun-related crime, the West Midlands Police have six out of the top 10 "worst" areas. This includes Aston, Hands-worth and Stechford in Birmingham, north Dudley, and east Wolverhampton.
Birmingham and the surrounding areas have suffered in recent years from a spate a gang-related shootings, most notoriously the drive-by murders of Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and a race riot in Lozells last year, although a series of initiatives have seen the number of shooting incidents in the area drop by 14 per cent in the past year.
Nationally the trend for an increase in firearms incidents was reversed last year with a drop of 8 per cent in England and Wales, down to 10,267. In recent years the number of homicides caused by firearms has ranged from about 80 to 100 a year. It should also be noted that most firearms incidents do not result in injury - of the 75 recorded in central Birmingham there were 12 injuries and 33 cases of the weapons being used to threaten people.
Manchester lives up to its nick-name of "Gunchester" with the two halves of the city centre scoring second and third in the league table. Their combined score is 660 firearms incidents from a total residential population of about 380,000. Again gang and drug-related violence have been credited for the more serious shooting incidents.
Despite all the publicity Nottingham has received for fatal shootings in recent years the city comes 17th on the list, with one firearms incident for every 1,141 residents.
London has six boroughs in the top 20, with the highest, Southwark, at 10th place. Gun crime initiatives in the capital, particularly against gangsters involved in crack cocaine, are proving successful at driving down the number of firearms incidents, but there is growing evidence that younger people are arming themselves.
Cleveland has an unexpectedly high concentration of firearms incidents, with the police district of Langbaurgh, which includes the deprived areas of Grangetown and South Bank, coming ninth. It had one gun offence for every 926 residents.
At the opposite end of the scale the rural Western police district of Norfolk, which includes the towns of King's Lynn, Downham Market, Thetford, Dereham and Hunstanton, recorded four firearms incidents for a population of 264,533, or one offence for 66,133 residents.
The tables rely on police forces to provide information on firearms incidents as defined by the Home Office.