'Food for thought' - community led gun crime forum hosted by Metropolitan Police Authority

21/06
28 March 2006

‘Food for Thought’, a community led forum for victims and witnesses of gun crime to talk about their experiences, was held on 28 March 2006 at the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). The purpose of the meeting was to enable communities to speak directly to the agencies responsible for tackling gun related crimes.

Kola Williams, who hosted the event with Raymond Webb, said:

“This was an opportunity for real people to give the decision makers the real messages of what actually happens on the streets.

“We must start including real people who have first hand knowledge about the problems so we can come up with workable practical solutions.

“Local authorities and police must try harder to work together to engage with their local communities.”

Cindy Butts, MPA deputy chair and lead member on gun crime, said:

“Gun crime blights all our communities, particularly the African and African-Caribbean communities. Whilst much is going on to fight gun crime, communities continue to suffer firearms related crime and the devastating impact it has on their lives.

“This forum was an excellent opportunity for everyone involved to exchange frank and forthright views and begin to work together to develop coherent policies to fight this shocking crime.”

Nazir Afzal OBE, Director, Crown Prosecution Service London West Sector and Lee Jasper, chair of Trident Independent Advisory Group and policy director on Equalities and Policing to the Mayor of London, GLA, both gave presentations on the roles of the community and key agencies in the fight against gun crime.

Notes to editors

1. ‘Food for Thought’ was an invitation only event. Attendees included:

• 30 representatives from the community including victims and witnesses of gun crime from across the Trident boroughs, support groups for victims of gun crime and Trident Independent Advisory Group members.
• 40 attendees from key statutory and voluntary agencies.

2. The MPA has carried out a mini gun crime scrutiny which will be presented to the MPA Full Authority on 27 April 2006. Whilst ‘Food for Thought’ did not form part of this scrutiny, there was some ‘read-across’ to this area of work.

MPA Gun Crime Scrutiny report (www.mpa.gov.uk/issues/gun-crime/scrutiny.htm) was presented to the Co-ordination and Policing Committee on 6 Feb 04

Further media information

For further information, please contact the MPA press office

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback