Police Call For Tougher Gun Crime Laws

One of the UK’s most senior police officers has called for new laws that would compel the public to give information to the police about gun crime – whether they want to or not.

In an interview with the Guardian, Bernard Hogan-Howe, the chief constable of Merseyside police and a contender to be next commissioner of the Met, said it was clear that more and more young people were getting involved in gun crime and that they were being protected by a wall of silence.

He said the only way to address this was to adopt laws similar to those in Australia “where people have a duty to report information about gun crime to the police”. He also believes the laws should extend to victims of gun crime who survive being shot but refuse to make a complaint because of fears of reprisals.

“The challenge is: people who survive do not want to complain and the best witness is quite often the victim who can help provide a description and motive. By refusing to help it can put the investigation on to the back foot.”

Mr Hogan-Howe, who was at the gun crime summit at Downing Street in February, said his force had been pioneering moves to disrupt the activities of those involved in gun crime.

Families are being evicted from their homes if they live with young people who possess firearms. They are moved out to other areas, while suspects are regularly stopped and searched by officers.

Mr Hogan-Howe is also a critic of any loosening of the laws relating to cannabis use and possession. He said there was evidence that the potency of cannabis is increasing and there needed to be more research about its long-term effects on people with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. “If people are under 18 when they take skunk cannabis they are four times more likely to suffer mental illness and if they are under 15 they are 10 times more likely,” he said.

However, it is his intervention on gun crime that is bound to be draw the ire of human rights campaigners. It reflects growing concern among the country’s most senior officers about the difficulties of tackling the use of firearms among young people.

A fortnight ago Scotland Yard launched the hard-hitting “blood on your hands” campaign, aimed at turning children away from gun crime and encouraging them to speak to the police.

It was unveiled on the day of the funeral of 15-year-old murder victim Billy Cox who was gunned down in south London, one of a number of shootings involving teenagers in recent weeks. “If you know someone who has got a gun and don’t report it, you could have blood on your hands,” the ad says.

Last week Tony Blair sparked controversy when he said the spate of gun murders was being caused not by poverty, but as a result of a distinctive black culture.

The Home Office has already announced it is looking at the possibility of banning membership of gangs, tougher enforcement of the supposed mandatory five-year sentences for possession of illegal firearms, and lowering the age from 21 to 18 for this mandatory sentence.

Mr Blair’s remarks appeared to put him at odds with Lady Scotland, a Home Office minister, who has argued that gun crime is a problem for the country as a whole and produced statistics to back up her view.

In 2004-05, there were 78 fatal shootings in England and Wales: 40 victims were white, 25 black, seven Asian. The figures do not record the ethnicity of the killers but, by and large, murderers tend mostly to target members of their own ethnic group. In 2005-06, there were 50 fatal shootings: 18 victims were white, 19 black and four Asian.