MERSEYSIDE Police have said communities in Wirral have “had enough” of gun and knife violence.
Assistant Chief Constable Jon Roy spoke with the Globe about how the force is “committed” to making sure serious violence and organised crime groups are “cleared out” of the local community and prevented from returning.
In January 2023, the Home Office announced a national roll-out of its Clear, Hold, Build strategy to help reclaim and rebuild areas at risk of significant harm from criminal gangs.
Yesterday (May 18) Merseyside Police launched EVOLVE Wirral, a project designed to tackle organised crime groups in the Woodchurch, Noctorum and Beechwood estates by disrupting and deterring criminals who pose a serious risk of harm to local communities.
READ: Arrests made after organised crime raids on Woodchurch estate
The launch of the project comes after the murders of Jackie Rutter in Moreton and Elle Edwards in Wallasey last year.
ACC Roy told the Globe: “Serious organised criminality is significant globally and Merseyside is no exception. We’ve seen the tragic gun crime murders in Liverpool and in the Wirral with Jackie Rutter and Ellie Edwards both victims of gun crime linked to organised criminality in the Wirral so it hasn’t been immune from it in any stretch of the imagination.
“We have all seen in Merseyside over the last year particularly the damage that serious and organised crime can do to people to their families, friends, loved ones and communities as a whole and this community is no different.
“Communities are now telling us that they’ve had enough.”
ACC Roy added that the force is relying on communities to relay intelligence and information so they can “help communities feel safer in their own homes and streets.”
ACC Roy said: “We are relying on communities giving us intelligence and information more and more so we can properly understand not just the people but also the issues and where they want us to put our efforts.
“We invest a lot of time in ceasing criminal assets and then investing that back into the local communities.
“We’ve always had a challenge receiving intelligence about organised crimes and I understand why that may be but I think last year we saw a tipping point in relation between police and public and we’ve had huge amount of support from our communities.
“They want to work differently with us and work more closely with us now so we can tackle crime and address the root causes.”
As part of the work the force is carrying out to clear OCG activity on the Woodchurch, Noctorum and Beechwood estates, officers have made 379 arrests, 740 stop searches and executed 90 warrants and searches between January 2023 and April 2023.
Seizures from that period include cannabis plants with an estimated yield of £1.3million, a large quantity of suspected Class A and B drugs, £25,000 worth of goods from targeted retailers linked to OCGs, more than £13,000 in cash suspected to be derived through criminal activity, two machetes, three samurai swords and a Rolex watch worth around £10,000.
ACC Roy added: “This is a commitment we are making to our communities, communities that for too long have been blighted by gun crime, knife crime and serious violence to stay with them and work with them in a different way to clear it out and stop it coming back and build that capital in that communities.
“We’re trying to drive out those criminals and stop them from coming back into the local communities so communities feel safer in their own homes and in their streets because these are the homes and streets of good people and they deserve to feel safe. We’re better together.”
Anyone with any information about crime is asked to call Merseyside Police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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