Police to treat gang members like terror suspects

GANG members suspected of inciting violent feuds on social media are to be treated like terror suspects, it was claimed last night.

Police will use new powers to target gangsters who promote violence in videos shared on websites such as YouTube.

Scotland Yard has blamed social media for the rising murder rate in London, singling out the ‘drill’ genre of rap music for glamorising violent crime.

Commander Jim Stokley, who leads the Met’s response to gang crime, told The Times new measures would make it easier for detectives to pursue suspects.

Currently, officers have to prove that videos and social media posts are directly linked to individual acts of violence to secure a conviction for incitement.

But the Terrorism Act allows suspects to be convicted even if videos or posts are not linked to specific violent acts. Mr Stokley said that for gangs ‘there isn’t specific legislation and clearly we can’t use terror legislation [but] in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, we have found some existing legislation which we are going to use.’

Mr Stokley stressed that the new measures, set out in the Serious Crime Act, would require the judiciary to agree with their reading of the law.

If this does not go to plan, the Met plans to seek the new legislation in consultation with the Home Office. YouTube users can easily watch drill videos that feature masked gangs threatening each other with aggressive lyrics and gestures, some attracting millions of views.

The Met has built up a database of more than 1,400 videos to identify those involved and monitor tensions among rival gangs.

In the past two years, police have asked YouTube to take down up to 60 videos but are forced to prove the clips are harmful first. Yesterday it was revealed the Google-owned site has only removed just over 30.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick has linked drill videos, which she said describe stabbings with ‘great joy and excitement’, to at least one attack. She said web giants had a ‘social responsibility’ to remove content that incites violence.

YouTube said most of the videos flagged by the Met are no longer available and that it has developed policies to tackle clips related to knife crime.