POLICE AMNESTY ON ILLEGAL GUNS
POLICE AMNESTY ON ILLEGAL GUNS
“HAND it into police before your life gets ruined.”
That is the message from a woman currently serving five years in prison after being asked by her boyfriend to look after a gun.
The Metropolitan Police has released a video highlighting the case as it launched a new campaign urging people to give up your gun .
People with the deadly weapon were urged to surrender their firearm at a local police station, no questions asked, between between February 6 and 12.
The campaign was launched after an increase in gun discharges in the year up to January 27, 2017 with 305 shots fired compared to 226 in the previous 12 months.
However the number has reduced in the past three months and is lower than five years ago where the figure was 378 in 2011.
The one-week campaign aimed to remove illegal weapons from the streets of the capital.
In the video, a voice portraying the woman, who police are keeping anonymous, says: “My boyfriend asked me to look after a gun for him. “He told me I wouldn’t be in danger I put my family’s life at risk. Everyone I lived with. Everyone I loved. I’m in prison for five years now.
“Hand it into police before your life gets ruined or someone you love gets hurt.”Anyone with firearms, imitation weapons or ammunition as well as antique and decommissioned weapons was able to hand them in to a 24-hour police station last week and did not have to give their details to officers.
Detective chief superintendent Jim Stokley, of the Met’s Trident and Area Crime Command, said: “Illegal firearms cause nothing but misery and devastation.
“We are urging anyone holding an illegal firearm to take up this opportunity and hand it in to police.
“Our aim is to remove all illegal firearms from the streets of London and we work relentlessly to disrupt and arrest anyone suspected of being involved in gun crime.
“If you hold on to an illegal gun, you are putting yourself and your loved ones in danger and you are likely to be arrested and face at least five years in jail.”
In May last year Trident launched Operation Viper targeting areas of high gun crime and officers have worked with Milestone Foundation to steer young people away from firearms and into employment.
In the past two years, Met officers have taken more than 1,400 firearms off the capital’s streets, including 230 handed in during gun surrenders in November 2014 and 2015.
If anyone has any information about someone who they believe is in possession of an illegal gun, they can ring police on 101 or call Crimestoppers, anonymously and free, on 0800 555 111.