Gang crime unit praised for high conviction rate
ANEW specialist regional unit set up to prosecute gang-related homicide, drug-dealing and street crime has achieved an 84% conviction rate, almost a year after it was set up.
The West Midlands-based Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit (SVOCE) was created by the Crown Prosecution Service last July, and deals with gang-related modern slavery, trafficking, county lines and violence in prisons.
Speaking as the unit nears its first anniversary in operation, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Douglas Mackay, of CPS West Midlands, said the new unit had placed prosecutors in the “best possible position to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice”.
He said that the unit also had close links with British Transport Police, allowing it to help the fight against so-called county lines drugs offending across England and Wales.
He added: “My prosecutors see the whites of the eyes of the bereaved families that deal with the tragedy that organised crime and gang criminality bring.
“They see the effect of the peddling of Class A drugs on the streets of the West Midlands, and they see the effect of carrying guns and knives in our community.
“This is our response to dealing with that kind of criminality.
“It’s our way of making sure that we deliver justice to the communities of the West Midlands.
“At the same time, we adjust to the changing nature of crime, and we make sure that we’re in the best possible position to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
“We’re really focusing on expertise to make sure that we deliver justice and build the strongest cases that we can.
“Since July, since this unit has been in place, we have concluded cases against 110 defendants, resulting in 92 convictions.
“It’s a high conviction rate at around 84%.”
Several recent investigations into gangrelated offences in the West Midlands have seen links between those involved proved through social media posts, including some featuring drill music videos.
Praising the success of the new unit, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill QC, said of some gang members’ links to drill music: “We recognise that anything that’s put to music can be offensive, can be intended to cause shock, but it is not a crime.
“Where I see drill music, and actually all forms of social media, as being useful to a specialist unit like this, is where individuals charged with crime will deny the obvious, namely they will deny that they know each other.
“If they appear alongside each other in a video which happens to contain drill music, we will use that, not because of the music (but) because it proves these people know each other, which makes it more likely that the case that we’re bringing is correct.”
Mr Hill said of the unit, the first of its kind: “I think what we’re seeing is just applying pressure by having a very strong relationship between investigators and prosecutors.
“Having a higher number of specialists in this unit, we’ve seen in 11 months they’ve taken 110 cases through the system. So this is hard work, but it is clearly paying off.”
I think what we’re seeing is just applying pressure by having a very strong relationship between investigators and prosecutors. Max Hill QC