Internet giants must help us beat the gangs says Met chief
WEB giants and police must do more to take down online material which is triggering fatal gang violence, Britain’s top officer said yesterday.
Cressida Dick said internet behemoths including You Tube and Facebook need to help police step in and protect young people before inflammatory footage over petty squabbles leads to gun and knife attacks on the streets.
The Scotland Yard Commissioner lashed out at videos showing gangs bragging about stabbing and shooting rivals, and said lives could be saved if web companies and police work together as serious attacks often follow spats played out online.
‘We know how it proliferates and we know much is out there,’ she told members of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. ‘I don’t want it to be the case that after a murder, or a very serious crime, my people are looking at social media and discovering evidence that shows what was likely to happen.
‘I want to have, both within my service and in the companies, a much more proactive approach about what is on social media to take down the stuff that is encouraging people to do crazy things and, secondly, to alert us to signs that things are going wrong, for example between gangs.’
Speaking at Westminster, Mrs Dick – who has spent 35 years combating street crime – says seeing people using knives ‘makes me angry’. She added that many cases ‘are ridiculous’ as young people are left dead or seriously injured over minor squabbles.
She said that ‘more proactive’ work is necessary with young children in schools to show deter them from street violence. ‘Children are beginning to think about this from a very young age,’ she added. ‘We need to do more of what we know works.’
Her comments come amid disturbing rising levels of gun and knife violence in the capital and across the country.
Police chiefs are particularly concerned at the increasingly young age of people caught carrying knives, who often claim it is for their own protection.
The impact of You Tube videos was highlighted after the murder of CJ Davis, a 14-yearold boy caught up in a feud between drugs gangs in Newham, east London last month. The warring factions freely posted footage online showing masked men striking gun poses and bragging about shooting their enemies.
You Tube insists that although it is a platform for ‘free and creative expression’, videos promoting violence are ‘strictly prohibited’.
‘We work closely with organisations like the Metropolitan Police to understand where artistic expression escalates into real threats,’ a spokesman has said.
Last month, Scotland Yard’s top gangs specialist called on You Tube and other social media sites to take down material stoking violence.
Commander Jim Stokley said half of all shootings are linked to gangs, many of which boast of their power in online music videos filmed on estates they control.