Merseyside Police and the Police Commissioner joined forces with partners including Liverpool City Council to tackle serious organised crime across the region.
In the last year, the police and the Commissioner have invested significant resources into tackling organised crime, which has seen firearms discharges reduce. Unfortunately, there are still a small number of people who are prepared to use guns on the streets of Merseyside.
They have no consideration for other members of the communities they live in and sadly this has been evidenced by the senseless and cold-blooded murders of Sam Rimmer, Ashley Dale, Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Jackie Rutter and Elle Edwards.
In 2022, the number of firearms discharges in Merseyside were the lowest for more than 20 years. The force has worked hard to bring down the number of discharges and will do everything in its power to prevent further discharges and loss of life – one discharge is too many.
That’s why Chief Constable Serena Kennedy and Commissioner Emily Spurrell want to keep this momentum going and will continue to work with partners to show that organised crime will not win in our region.
Today’s Tackling Organised Crime Summit brought together senior figures from local authorities, health services, housing, education, charities, and community groups.
The people and organisations in attendance are dedicated to community safety and making Merseyside a safer place to live, work and visit.
In workshops facilitated by Dr Zara Quigg from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), attendees looked at various issues including the importance of community intelligence, collaboration between partners and communities, sustainability of grant funding and embedding a trauma informed approach to violence prevention, to see how they could further the work already underway.
The workshops allowed attendees to share their own experiences and put forward ideas and practices that can improve how this issue is tackled best for their communities.
Following the Summit, Merseyside Police and the Commissioner will continue to work with partners to keep the momentum going to make local communities safer. The creation of a working group will develop forward-looking strategies to support the work being done to disrupt and prevent organised crime.
Together it will look at what actions can be taken to improve areas blighted by organised crime gangs (OCGs) and ensure that the plans are dedicated to reducing serious organised crime in the future.
Merseyside Police and the Commissioner continue to work with partners on a series of operations to reassure the public and tackle serious organised crime.
The Clear, Hold, Build project, known locally as EVOLVE, sees the police working with partners and residents in Liverpool, Knowsley, Wirral and Netherton to disrupt and deter organised crime group (OCG) activity and help stop neighbourhoods being exploited by these criminals.
An immediate crackdown of serious and organised crime following the shootings in 2022 – Operation Miller – has led to 798 arrests, 148 warrants and 16 firearms recovered.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: “Serious and organised crime poses a significant threat to our communities. Merseyside Police is committed to tackling OCGs and is pursuing these criminals with the full force of the law.
“Merseyside is a great place to live, work and visit. Today’s Summit will help strengthen relationships between partners and harness the force of Merseyside to tackle serious organised crime.
“Effective prevention alongside enforcement is the way forward. There is fantastic partnership work already taking place to tackle organised crime, from prevention initiatives to community outreach programmes. It is vital that we, and our partner agencies, align our collective efforts to nurture a whole-system approach to tackle this issue and break the cycle of young people being drawn into crime.”
“We all have our part to play and together we can make a difference. Everyone in attendance today has the same goal: to make our streets safer from the OCGs blighting our communities and preventing them from causing serious harm in the future.”
Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell said: “OCGs have no morals and no care for anyone, but themselves and their own greed. They bring misery, suffering and harm to our communities.
“There will never be a place for them in our proud, caring region.
“Merseyside Police are recognised across the country for their relentless approach to tackling and disrupting these heartless criminals. I am committed to doing everything in my power to support that work and today’s Summit demonstrated, once again, how deeply that determination is shared across Merseyside.
“Working together – and with our communities – we can build a stronger, safer Merseyside where there is nowhere for these OCGs to hide, and they face the justice they deserve.”
Anyone who has information about those involved in serious organised crime or information about where guns are being stored, should contact Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
