Drug gang activity ‘way above’ other cities – police chief

DRUGS are driving violence on Coventry’s streets, the city’s cop boss admitted, with police called to around 110 gang disruptions a month.

Police chief Mike O’Hara said the city’s gang activity is “way above and beyond elsewhere in the region”, with other areas averaging at around 30.

Six confirmed county lines operated in Coventry with a higher number under investigation by police.

Mr O’Hara told a council scrutiny meeting he believed drug gangs are “driving many elements of violence on our streets”.

While he said serious violence is showing a “steady decline”, he said there have been increases in include robbery and knife crime.

Knife crime remains a “thorn”, he added, with incidents jumping from 20-a-month to 30-a-month, admitting to councillors: “It is too many.”

The robbery rate “continues to be the worst compared to similar regions” with just over 2.6 robberies per 1,000 population, more than double the lowest rates.

He added: “I have not seen reductions in knife crime which is a thorny issue and something I will continue to challenge.

“It is intrinsically linked to street robberies as a high proportion involve the use of a knife.”

However, public-place violence with injury has reduced by 942 offences between April and October 2018 to 893 offences between the same period this year.

The number of offences involving people aged 10-24 has also dropped from 314 to 288, he said, with Coventry one of only two places in the region to reduce public-place violence - the other being Dudley.

Mr O’Hara said that area is displaying ‘green shoots of recovery.’

He said: “I’m not going to jump up and down yet, but let’s see what happens over the next few months.”

Coventry has been classed as a ‘force priority’ in recent months, leading to “thousands of additional police hours” being deployed.

And the police chief said he was pleased with the work being done.

“We have deployed dogs, drones, knife sweeps, and we are starting to see some of the impact of that in the city,” he said.

In the months the city has been a ‘force priority,’ there have been more than 100 arrests, 138 stop searches, 34 vehicle seizures, five firearms recovered, and nine weapons recovered, he said. “From a single agency perspective it feels that the here and now deployment is working pretty well,” he added.