Reluctant Gangsters - London Borough of Hillingdon

3. The Youth Gangs of Waltham Forest
I‘d defend anyone in E10 (KI.27)
This account of youth gangs in Waltham Forest, in November 2006,
offers only a snapshot, because these gangs, and their membership,
are fairly fluid, so the situation described here may have changed
by the time it is published. However, this snapshot does give an
indication of the dimensions, nature and severity of gang offending
in the borough.
The Metropolitan Police Pan-London Gang Profile, produced in June
2006, identified 169 gangs in London, with 19 assessed as causing
a high level of harm. The Profile cites 11 gangs in Waltham Forest,
three of which it assesses as causing a high level of harm (see
below). On the basis of this assessment, Waltham Forest was
deemed to be a priority for the development of IPE (intelligence,
prevention & enforcement).
The present study, undertaken over a longer period, with a
narrower remit and access to more data sources, identified 18
gangs in Waltham Forest, some of which, for the purposes of this
report, have been subsumed within two ‘super-gangs’, Piff City and
Drive. This brings the total to 13.
For reasons we explain below, it is difficult to give an exact figure
for gang membership. However, it is probable that in the autumn of
2006, approximately 600-700 young people aged 10-29 were, at
some point, directly involved in gang activity in Waltham Forest.
This constitutes around 1% of all 10-29 year olds in the borough, of
whom there were 66,969 in 2001 (The 2001, National Census)
Beside the name of each gang listed below is a Severity Score,
based on the Metropolitan Police Harm Assessment Scoring Scale
(MPS 2006) (see fig. 4.1. below). The score is calculated by adding
the maximum sentence length for offences committed by gang
members. The scores for Waltham Forest gangs (see fig. 4.2 below)
are arrived at on the basis of crimes proven to have been
committed by gang members as part and parcel of gang activity or
crimes where there is a very strong suspicion amongst professionals
closely involved with the gangs, and their activities, that a particular
offence has been committed by gang members. On this basis, six of
the 13 gangs identified in Waltham Forest appeared to be causing a
high level of harm (A high level of harm equates with the
commission of serious assaults, rape, kidnapping, attempted
murder and murder (see fig. 4.1 below).
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