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By ROISIN GADELRAB
  
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Police Chief plays down gun crime

It's bad, but not that bad, says borough commander

 ISLINGTON’S police chief is on a collision course with one of the most senior officers in the country – over claims gun crime in the borough has increased by nearly 150 per cent.
Contacting the Tribune yesterday, Borough Commander Barry Norman contradicted assistant Metropolitan Police commissioner Tarique Ghaffur’s declaration last weekend that incidents of gun crime have risen by 148 per cent in the past year.
Supt Norman said: “It’s unfortunate when people express crime statistics in percentage terms because it doesn’t really mean very much – it doesn’t help. The increase this year is 112 per cent on this time last year.”
Admitting this year’s statistics are “worrying”, he said: “There have been 83 incidents this year. That means there are 13 boroughs in London that have more gun crime than Islington.
“It also means that of those 83 incidents the vast majority are for matters which I imagine members of the public wouldn’t feel were as frightening as the generic label gun crime.”
He claimed 20 of the 83 recorded incidents were actual shootings, adding: “People found carrying CS gas, air weapons and ball bearing guns are statistically shown as gun crime, and therefore the figures, while worrying, need to be put into context.” A fatal shooting outside Clerkenwell club Turnmills in Easter 2003, resulted in officers embarking on anti-gun crime programme Operation Guinevere.
Supt Norman said: “We had the largest decrease in London over the last year because of our high-profile campaign.”
Putting this year’s increase down to the end of the campaign as well as an influx of people passing through the borough, he said: “We’ve gone back to where we were two years ago.
“We continue to suffer from people coming into the borough from outside the area and being in possession of firearms – Islington is a very transient turf and that’s an issue for us.”
“Officers are currently developing a new anti-gun crime strategy planned for the new year and are working with St Mary’s youth club, who are holding a key-note event with young people in the borough to drive down gun crime.”
He warned young men were most at risk. He said: “Like just about every other type of offence, you’re far more likely to be a victim of gun crime in Islington if you’re young and male and you’re far more likely to be a suspect if you’re a young male – at its worst it affects families, communities and everybody.”



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