A GANG of youths committed almost 450 crimes in less than a year, police revealed yesterday, as they launched a campaign to tackle gang violence and disorder.
Over an 11-month period, the unnamed group in the Strathclyde area was responsible for 448 crimes.
Strathclyde Chief Constable Steve House said: "That is 13 crimes per gang member, and of course, that's just the crimes we know about.
"Every one
of these crimes has a victim. There are decent people being blighted by these crimes."
The police chief said arrests had been made for violent offences as well as lower-level crimes such as shoplifting and car break-ins.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, the head of the Violence Reduction Unit, is leading the campaign to tackle gangs.
He said: "I know it sounds hackneyed but it's really about co-ordinating the delivery of a whole range of services for all these young people at risk.
"The young people of today want the same things as the young people of 50 years ago: they want something to do and they want somewhere to do it. So we need to be doing that for them."
He pledged action would be taken against those who were still involved in gangs, adding: "For those who are not prepared to take those opportunities such as schools open, youth clubs, football diversion, and still persist in gangs, make no mistake about it – every police force in Scotland will be robust in stopping and searching and arresting and targeting and making sure they go to prison if that's what they need."
About 5 per cent of youngsters in Strathclyde are thought to be involved in gang violence or disorder, with another 20-25 per cent at risk of getting drawn into the culture.
Extra officers will patrol trouble hotspots as part of the new initiative and gang members will be subject to stop and searches.
About 70 officers have also been trained in setting up "diversionary" activities, such as five-a-side football matches and weekend discos in a bid to keep youngsters off the streets.
Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill announced a £200,000 boost to the programme last month.
Strathclyde Police is currently considering 30 bids for funding. Mr House said that, in total, 600 officers were committing one day a month to the Safer Scotland Collective Violence Campaign. The figure may rise to 1,200.
He said: "The extra police officers are not a one-off and this campaign is not a short-term fix. We are in this for the long haul and this will be how we do our everyday business from now on.
"Be assured that this is not just about throwing resources at a problem. There is a lot of background intelligence-gathering work being done, and officers will be working where specific problems have been identified."
Mr House added: "We are well aware of the problems .
"People in gangs will not be able to hide. We know who and where they are and, when necessary, we will use the full force of the law to 'de-glamorise', divert, detect and disrupt this disease which has blighted communities for generations."
GANGS THRIVE DESPITE REGENERATIONTHE announcement comes a month after a study revealed that Glasgow has six times as many teenage gangs as London per capita.
The report, by the influential Centre for Social Justice think tank, said there were in the region of 170 teenage gangs, the same as London, despite the UK capital having six times the population. It said that if the same ratio was to carried through to London, it would have more than 1,000 gangs.
The report presented by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, examined deprivation in Glasgow and concluded that, despite huge amounts of outside investment in economic regeneration, Scotland's biggest city was still "notorious for its levels of youth and violent crime".
