Geezah
01-11-2006, 08:47 AM
CHILDREN as young as nine will be allowed to handle high-powered weaponry to scare them away from gun crime.
Armed police are to take rifles into the classroom as a shock tactic to frighten youngsters.
Officers hope its "hard-hitting" campaign of taking guns into schools will scare children away from gangs.
The specialist Matrix team will work with pupils from the age of nine upwards.
In October, the ECHO revealed how children as young as five were caught with BB guns, while some between 10 and 14 were parading handguns, and 15 to 19-year-olds were using shotguns.
Today the founder of the Merseyside charity Mothers Against Guns backed the new scare tactic scheme.
Paula Ogunboro, whose 25-year-old son Eugene was shot dead in Liverpool two years ago, said: "These kids really need something to hit them hard and this could impact on them.
"You need something scary to get through to them. Maybe then they will think twice about getting involved with guns."
Force statistics reveal that almost half of all offenders caught with firearms in Merseyside are 19 or under.
In May, a 13-year-old Croxteth boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a fellow teenager was shot in the face in the area.
Two weeks later, seven teenagers were blasted with shotguns by yobs from a rival gang, also in Croxteth.
And in September, three 14-year-old girls walked into a school in Netherton and threatened a class assistant with a BB gun.
Chief constable Bernard Hogan-Howe hopes to reduce the problem of guns in schools by stationing officers at every secondary school.
And he is backing the plan to take weapons into the classroom.
The new scheme will start in north Liverpool before spreading to the rest of the city. It will then be introduced in Wirral, St Helens, Sefton and Knowsley.
Dedicated firearms officers will run classes using a specially-made video to warn about the problems guns cause.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cooke, the head of Merseyside Police's anti-gun Matrix unit, said: "Armed officers will explain to the children about the dangers of firearms and the impact they can have."
VICTIMS of gun crime will work with police over the next few months to hone anti-gang operations.
Parents of Merseyside shooting victims will sit on an independent panel with community leaders to give their thoughts to police.
The panel first met last month and will hold regular talks with officers.
But although the group will say how operations can be improved, members will not act as police informants or give tip-offs to detectives.
Police have also set up a forum with gun dealers which also sat for the first time in November.
That group involves officers meeting with gun clubs and officers firearms shops to keep an eye on who is buying weaponry.
Matrix operations have this year seen 49 criminals caged for a total of 353 years.
Convicts include: Andrew Grant, who was jailed for 15 years reduced to 13 on appeal in May after admitting drug dealing and owning a deadly automatic assault rifle.
Michael Kerwin, who was sentenced to eight years for being part of a gang which carried out six robberies on security vans in the region.
Joseph Wright junior, who was jailed for six years for hiding his drug-dealing father's profits from sales of Class A substances.
Colin Lees - whose gang were caught smuggling £32m of ecstasy and speed.
Scott Minshull, who tried to bring £35m of cannabis into Merseyside in hollowed-out marble boxes.
THE Matrix officers taking their anti-gun message into the classroom have already spread it on the streets.
Set up a year ago, the specialist unit was designed to tackle weapons, drugs and gangs.
They now know the criminals are listening to their message, city criminals have begun daubing abusive graffiti targeted at the Matrix team.
Police are taking it as a compliment, showing they are making Merseyside gangs uncomfortable.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cooke, the head of the Matrix team, said: "We can tell the criminals have heard about Matrix and know what the unit stands for by graffiti appearing all over the city and on number plates.
"We're hitting criminals where it hurts, in the pockets. Vast seizures have stopped gangs from operating while they try to recover their funds to buy more drugs.
"Criminals know who we are and we know where they are.
"Merseyside is now a safer place than last year, and next year it will be even safer still."
Messages such as "**** the Matrix" have been painted on walls in Liverpool, while the same phrase has been printed on fake number plates on stolen cars used by gangs for cash-intransit raids.
But police are warning the crooks that 2006 will see more drug seizures, more assets stripped from gangsters and more crooks put behind bars.
Mr Cooke said: "The whole point of the Matrix team is to reduce gun crime and we have had success in that this year.
"We've had a good first year. I'd give us eight out of ten but there's room for improvement. We can and will do more." Matrix is two years ahead of schedule in tackling serious crime.
Senior officers drew up plans last year to reduce fatal and serious shootings by 25% by 2008.
The number of fatal incidents dropped from 10 last year to one this year, a 90% reduction.
Attempted murders involving firearms fell from 16 to 4, a drop of 75% since 2004, while raids on security guards dropped by 25.3%, down from 91 to 68 this year.
Seizures include 602kg of amphetamine, worth up to £48m on the streets, 35kg of heroin valued at £1.76m, 75kg of cocaine worth £3m and 360,000 ecstasy tablets worth £1m.
Police also recovered 19 top-level firearms along with more than 800 rounds of ammunition.
And cash and assets worth almost £1m have been seized as well as more than 1,000 vehicles which were being used illegally or by criminals.
Link (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16568943%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26page=1%26headline=a%2dhard%2dlesson%2dto%2dlearn-name_page.html)
Makes more sense to teach kids not to join gangs and take drugs than take high powered rifles into schools.
I fired my first firearm when I was 8, this was during my first visit to the US, apart from a short stint when I moved here of not being interested in firearms I would say being exposed one will not have the desired affect.
Armed police are to take rifles into the classroom as a shock tactic to frighten youngsters.
Officers hope its "hard-hitting" campaign of taking guns into schools will scare children away from gangs.
The specialist Matrix team will work with pupils from the age of nine upwards.
In October, the ECHO revealed how children as young as five were caught with BB guns, while some between 10 and 14 were parading handguns, and 15 to 19-year-olds were using shotguns.
Today the founder of the Merseyside charity Mothers Against Guns backed the new scare tactic scheme.
Paula Ogunboro, whose 25-year-old son Eugene was shot dead in Liverpool two years ago, said: "These kids really need something to hit them hard and this could impact on them.
"You need something scary to get through to them. Maybe then they will think twice about getting involved with guns."
Force statistics reveal that almost half of all offenders caught with firearms in Merseyside are 19 or under.
In May, a 13-year-old Croxteth boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a fellow teenager was shot in the face in the area.
Two weeks later, seven teenagers were blasted with shotguns by yobs from a rival gang, also in Croxteth.
And in September, three 14-year-old girls walked into a school in Netherton and threatened a class assistant with a BB gun.
Chief constable Bernard Hogan-Howe hopes to reduce the problem of guns in schools by stationing officers at every secondary school.
And he is backing the plan to take weapons into the classroom.
The new scheme will start in north Liverpool before spreading to the rest of the city. It will then be introduced in Wirral, St Helens, Sefton and Knowsley.
Dedicated firearms officers will run classes using a specially-made video to warn about the problems guns cause.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cooke, the head of Merseyside Police's anti-gun Matrix unit, said: "Armed officers will explain to the children about the dangers of firearms and the impact they can have."
VICTIMS of gun crime will work with police over the next few months to hone anti-gang operations.
Parents of Merseyside shooting victims will sit on an independent panel with community leaders to give their thoughts to police.
The panel first met last month and will hold regular talks with officers.
But although the group will say how operations can be improved, members will not act as police informants or give tip-offs to detectives.
Police have also set up a forum with gun dealers which also sat for the first time in November.
That group involves officers meeting with gun clubs and officers firearms shops to keep an eye on who is buying weaponry.
Matrix operations have this year seen 49 criminals caged for a total of 353 years.
Convicts include: Andrew Grant, who was jailed for 15 years reduced to 13 on appeal in May after admitting drug dealing and owning a deadly automatic assault rifle.
Michael Kerwin, who was sentenced to eight years for being part of a gang which carried out six robberies on security vans in the region.
Joseph Wright junior, who was jailed for six years for hiding his drug-dealing father's profits from sales of Class A substances.
Colin Lees - whose gang were caught smuggling £32m of ecstasy and speed.
Scott Minshull, who tried to bring £35m of cannabis into Merseyside in hollowed-out marble boxes.
THE Matrix officers taking their anti-gun message into the classroom have already spread it on the streets.
Set up a year ago, the specialist unit was designed to tackle weapons, drugs and gangs.
They now know the criminals are listening to their message, city criminals have begun daubing abusive graffiti targeted at the Matrix team.
Police are taking it as a compliment, showing they are making Merseyside gangs uncomfortable.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cooke, the head of the Matrix team, said: "We can tell the criminals have heard about Matrix and know what the unit stands for by graffiti appearing all over the city and on number plates.
"We're hitting criminals where it hurts, in the pockets. Vast seizures have stopped gangs from operating while they try to recover their funds to buy more drugs.
"Criminals know who we are and we know where they are.
"Merseyside is now a safer place than last year, and next year it will be even safer still."
Messages such as "**** the Matrix" have been painted on walls in Liverpool, while the same phrase has been printed on fake number plates on stolen cars used by gangs for cash-intransit raids.
But police are warning the crooks that 2006 will see more drug seizures, more assets stripped from gangsters and more crooks put behind bars.
Mr Cooke said: "The whole point of the Matrix team is to reduce gun crime and we have had success in that this year.
"We've had a good first year. I'd give us eight out of ten but there's room for improvement. We can and will do more." Matrix is two years ahead of schedule in tackling serious crime.
Senior officers drew up plans last year to reduce fatal and serious shootings by 25% by 2008.
The number of fatal incidents dropped from 10 last year to one this year, a 90% reduction.
Attempted murders involving firearms fell from 16 to 4, a drop of 75% since 2004, while raids on security guards dropped by 25.3%, down from 91 to 68 this year.
Seizures include 602kg of amphetamine, worth up to £48m on the streets, 35kg of heroin valued at £1.76m, 75kg of cocaine worth £3m and 360,000 ecstasy tablets worth £1m.
Police also recovered 19 top-level firearms along with more than 800 rounds of ammunition.
And cash and assets worth almost £1m have been seized as well as more than 1,000 vehicles which were being used illegally or by criminals.
Link (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16568943%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26page=1%26headline=a%2dhard%2dlesson%2dto%2dlearn-name_page.html)
Makes more sense to teach kids not to join gangs and take drugs than take high powered rifles into schools.
I fired my first firearm when I was 8, this was during my first visit to the US, apart from a short stint when I moved here of not being interested in firearms I would say being exposed one will not have the desired affect.