Known gangs in each London Borough
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.024103
I note you seek access to the following information:
How many known gangs are there in each London Borough?
How many known gangs are there in each London Borough that have under 18's within them?
Decision
I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 31(1)(a)(b) Law enforcement.
Reason for decision
Such specific intelligence, would undoubtedly cause serious harm, undermining the effective delivery of operational law enforcement by revealing a geographical detail of criminal groups within the Metropolitan Police area.
Although the figures that are routinely published on the MPS website are broken down by age, ethnicity, and colour coded category, the requested borough breakdown attracts the Section 31 exemption.
Section 31(1)(a)(b) Law enforcement - The current climate within the United Kingdom of gang culture, which includes knife and gun crime, is extremely emotive. Several individuals, (very often a young person), have died following alleged gang stabbings or shootings. The Police Service will not reveal any detail that would prejudice their ability to prevent or detect criminal activity.
Revealing specific numbers at borough level would compromise the prevention or detection of crime and the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. Although the information requested could be considered generic, disclosure would provide an awareness to offenders of the exact intelligence held by the MPS at borough level. This increased awareness of detailed police intelligence would enable offenders to adapt their behaviour accordingly in order to evade the detection of their criminality, prosecutions would be avoided, and more crime would be committed placing individuals and the public at large at risk.
Disclosing information at this low level could provide valuable information to criminals and gangs of areas of London that are more vulnerable in terms of lack of gangs being active and therefore more attractive in relation to criminal activity such as drug markets. A fear of crime would be realised, and these perceived vulnerable areas could be targeted and exploited, making the public fearful of more criminal activity occurring.
Disclosure could also increase fears around the identification of individuals, irrespective of whether identification actually takes place.
When the current or future law enforcement role of the force may be compromised by the release of information, the effectiveness of the force will be reduced. In this case, for the reasons outlined in the evidenced harm, the effectiveness of current and future strategies to combat criminal gangs may be compromised.
Disclosing the requested level of detail may enable the public to draw inferences on the extent of gang crime in a given area, which would likely raise alarm within various localities and lead to an increased risk of community tensions and/or public order issues. Vulnerable areas or those areas perceived as ‘soft’ targets could be identified by force level disclosure, as those intent on criminal activity may move to those areas in order continue their operations and target vulnerable individuals. There would be local implications, as this would lead to more offences being committed within the community.
If the MPS routinely disclosed the requested level of detail in respect of gang crime, this may impact upon police resources, as we may need to increase our resources in order to reassure the public and protect the surrounding community. Frontline policing is often very stretched, especially following the vast cuts of ‘back-office’ staff and police officer establishment figures over the last decade. If criminal gang culture is fuelled by the disclosure of police intelligence at borough level, there would be a need for frontline policing to be taken away from other areas of policing in order to monitor the criminality caused by criminal gangs.
As a consequence, the public may be deterred from providing the police with intelligence. This would therefore hinder the prevention and detection of crime, as well as undermine the partnership approach to investigations and law enforcement, because the Police Service heavily rely upon the public coming forward to provide evidence and witness statements.
The personal safety of individuals is of paramount importance to the Police Service and must be considered in respect of every release. A disclosure under Freedom of Information is a release to the world, and individual(s) safety would be compromised and may even result in death.
The Freedom of Information Act has a presumption of disclosure, unless when balancing the competing public interest factors the prejudice to the community outweighs the benefits. In this case, there is an argument for disclosure, as the public have a right to know that their local policing area is appropriately monitoring individuals suspected of gang crime, but this must be balanced against the negative impact these disclosures can make. It could be argued that the former is already catered by the Police Service, in that when it is appropriate to do so, the local community are given information through effective communication methods, such as neighbourhood policing forums, media releases and national initiatives and reports
Law enforcement is reliant on community engagement and when it is appropriate, proportional and relevant, information is given to the public. What has been established in this case is the fact that disclosure would have an adverse effect on the public and reduce the policing of criminal gangs. This places the public at greater risk and is not an action the Police Service would be willing to take. These negatives outweigh any tangible community benefit and therefore the balance does not favour disclosure at this time.
Disclosure
Advice and Assistance
The MPS provide a Quarterly update on the Gang Violence Matrix (GVM) – see below.
Link to the Gangs Violence Matrix (GVM) – this includes numbers for MPS as a whole (including ages)