Next Gen News

The muffled sounds of an angry man 's voice was heard through the open door, and saw a neighbor with a world-weary indifference. "It 's not \ the first time," said Dave, a 58-year-old who would not give his last name. "You 've been here."

Officers eventually went out of the house with a 25-year-old man in handcuffs and a sweatshirt with the words "Smoke Homegrown" emblazoned beneath a large cannabis plant. In a storm of expletives, he gave the finger to the press, as he was escorted to the van.

Detective Sergeant Andy Chandler, who was leading the raid, said the man under suspicion had been arrested in the supply of drugs and money laundering offenses.

Not the suspect, whose name published, was part of Operation Connect, an initiative of the Metropolitan Police to combat a rise in gang crime in the capital led to the goal being targeted. The project, which draws taken on the successful anti-gang approaches by police in cities like Boston, Massachusetts, and Glasgow, has been running since the spring, to be used with Waltham Forest as a blueprint for other communities.

But, after a summer in which gangs have returned to the headlines in a big way, interest in Connect is greater than ever. Speaking in the aftermath of the riots in English cities this month, David Cameron declared an "all-out war" on criminal gangs. They had been, he told MPs on another occasion, "at the heart of the protests and have been behind the co-ordinated attacks".

Out of the glare of the media and the Westminster spotlight, however, has steadily advanced Connect operation in Waltham Forest, where a spasm of gang-related violence last summer, among other factors, the police called on individuals from the community for special attention.

For those gang members who decline the offer of engagement, but the soft approach is ditched, and no-holds-barred enforcement kicks in. "It 's Al Capone \ kind of approach," said Chandler. \ That could be in the class A drug dealing or failure to pay a TV license, "We will for their crimes. \ Target".

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Champion, from the Connect operation, said officers justified in their pursuit of those gang members were for the smallest offenses. "We would not have to speak for no insurance if they 'weren ta violent gang member," he said. "We are there to reduce speed violence. We will do this in any form. ... If the individual has been offered a way out ... and they 've decided not to do that, they 've been a very clear steer that we target. "

For many communities in which gangs of frustrated, the tough stance is welcome. And there are already signs that Connect is having an impact in Waltham Forest: The latest figures show that in the first three months of the project, knife crime by 5%, robbery by 13% and gun crime fell compared to 25% in the last year.

But Scotland Yard are no illusions that a substantial decline in gang crime in London is anything but long and be fraught with difficulties. In areas such as Waltham Forest and Haringey, the next step in Connect 's development, transition issues remain widely disseminated.

Yesterday, another robbery, carried out in a terraced house in Leyton, to spread the arrest of a person, a 39-year-old Vietnamese man on suspicion of cultivation of cannabis in a factory about four rooms in the property. In a room about 250 cannabis plants were under heat lamps while hoods and moth balls have been used to reduce the pungent smell. In another land lay in a heap next to a pink dust pan and brush. According to one estimate, the factory had the capacity to bring its owner an income of over £ 500,000 per year.

Despite the sustained intelligence gathering, some anti-gang work can still be hit and miss: local officers had originally raided the Leyton address expecting to find evidence tying local gang members to the riots. No such items were found. And, while the government is pointing the finger of blame at gangs, officers in the field would prefer to wait and see the evidence before concluding that such a link was justified.

"Were there any band members involved in [the riots]? \ Without a doubt," said Master, it is "natural", that the riots had focused attention on gang-busting efforts.

"But you must be very careful as to come out to the actual statistics of how much it was gang-related and how much it was pure violence, we 're only speculate."

Carnival of police work

The Metropolitan Police has said it will prepare hundreds of additional officers as this year deploy 's Notting Hill Carnival to a million people in Europe \ participate largest street festival.

It will be 5500 police officers Sunday 's family day and 6,500 on the main carnival day Monday. The inserts provide a 10% and 15% increase over the previous year respectively.