Merseyside Police are in the midst of a crackdown on members of the so-called Woodchurch Organised Crime Group (OCG), based in Birkenhead's Woodchurch estate.
The gang are involved in the supply of Class A and B drugs in both the local area and elsewhere on a county lines model, particularly in North Wales. Merseyside Police see the gang as among the top threats to public safety and security in the region, in large part due to the upsurge in gun violence related to its members' long-standing rivalry with the 'Ford' organised crime group based in the Beechwood estate.
But despite years of problems, the recent brazen shootings in public places have left residents desperate for change, according to local community policing inspector Alan McKeon. Insp. McKeon, a native of the Woodchurch estate himself, fears the potential tragic consequences for innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire as what he termed "warring factions" use firearms to attack each other.
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He said attempts to build trust and gather intelligence have borne fruit in the past 12 months since he helped launch Operation Presley, a campaign to tackle organised crime on the Woodchurch. He told the ECHO: "B ecause of firearms discharges there's often a veil of silence that occurs on Merseyside, certainly when you use firearms, people are increasingly more frightened to offer intelligence and information to the police through fear of being a victim themselves you know.
"And that is something that we have kind of had to look at our partners to overcome a little bit as well.
"We recently ran a bespoke campaign with Crimestoppers on the estate because I'm conscious that whenever there is an incident we always go to the community and ask for intelligence and why wouldn't we? But I wanted to make sure I ran a campaign that wasn't too closely affiliated to any particular incident because I don't like to look reactive.
"Intelligence flow from the community has increased. That probably is down to the fact that the community is getting sick of this activity from these lot."
Insp. McKeon said he has been keen to use a wide range of legislation to tackle organised crime on the estate, including gang injunctions and criminal behaviour orders.
However one tactic he believes is particularly effective is working with housing providers to force drug dealers out of their homes.
He said: "As much as people don't like going to prison and don't like having drugs warrants done on their house, what I have seen in nearly 17 years in the police, that in isolation doesn't necessarily stop them from committing crime.
"One of the really effective things is, if you can all pull in the same direction in respect of your housing associations; let's work closely with them and let's see whether we can look at enforcement through the housing against these people.
"Some of the individuals who have been convicted of criminality in the estate, we have the housing associations bid for a possession order on their houses, so they won't be able to come back.
"That, albeit as a partnership led approach, is massively effective, as you can imagine how impactive it is losing the family home that you've had for years because of your criminality on the estate, which sends probably more of an impactive message than what I could do from a policing perspective."
Since the launch of Operation Presley 12 months ago, 136 stop searches have been carried out in and around Woodchurch, 64 arrests have been made, and 12 knives and one firearm have been seized. The force said "substantial" quantities of class A and B drugs have been seized as well as more than £10,000 in dirty cash.
But Insp. McKeon was keen to stress that the force cannot arrest its way out of the gang problem on estates like the Woodchurch, and pointed to efforts to educate young people from as early as primary school age to avoid criminal behaviour.
He said: " It would be fantastic to put every member of this organised crime group into prison now, it would be brilliant, but it's not going to stop the next group because the cultural issues on that estate, that have led to people picking up guns and being involved in organised crime, they're still going to exist.
"So what can we maybe do to prevent that? How are we going to prevent people joining gangs in the first place. What age do we look to target that? And for me if you get kids who are secondary school age it's probably too late at that point.
"I am not saying we would turn our backs on them because we do work with some secondary schools but that's why I was particularly keen to look into the feeder schools as well to see what we can do to reduce gang activity."
Insp. McKeon said his plan was not to "grab the headline" but to implement changes that could bear fruit in "five or 10 years" time.
He said: "I know the Woodchurch very, very well. Not because I work here, but I actually went to school on the Woodchurch myself. I was at Woodchurch High School which seems like a very long time ago now, in the 90s.
"Albeit people weren't shooting each other back then, but there was gang activity on a different level. And even then on the estate it was to do with drugs.
"So the same issues have been prominent for decades on that estate and I have seen that first hand when I was there in school, and when I say I have spent nearly 20 years in the police, I have seen it throughout my time here as well.
"That was also a little part of what I wanted to achieve with this operation in that, you know, you can look at some significant policing activity and results over the years, but has it really prevented people from joining the gangs? And the reality is, it hasn't.
"And the same issues are going on now as when I was there when I was in school as a kid. So it's trying to look at things like that. Trying to look at it rather than just, to so to speak, grab the headline.
"It might take a bit longer, but in five years time or maybe 10 years time is what we do know going to stop people from joining gangs, using firearms, getting involved in drug dealing? That's kind of the way I wanted to steer the operation really"
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