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| Police to hold talks with gangs | Police to hold talks with gangs |
| (11 minutes later) | |
| Police are to hold talks with the leaders of south London's most violent gangs in an attempt to cut gun crime. | Police are to hold talks with the leaders of south London's most violent gangs in an attempt to cut gun crime. |
| Leaders of seven gangs will be brought in one-by-one and told that gun crime has to stop or police will come down hard on them, Scotland Yard said. | |
| A police spokesman said it was the first time the force has taken such an approach. | A police spokesman said it was the first time the force has taken such an approach. |
| The talks, modelled on a successful project in Boston, US, are scheduled to start in January. | |
| Operation Alliance | |
| The idea was devised following talks with five south London boroughs; Lambeth, Croydon, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich, which have been particularly affected by gun crime. | |
| The gangs have not been identified but a police spokesman said they were believed to be behind a majority of the shootings in the area, as well as other forms of violent crime. | |
| Led by Commander Shaun Sawyer, the head of the Metropolitan Police's Violent Crime Directorate, Operation Alliance aims to dismantle and disrupt criminal gangs. | |
| "As part of this programme, the MPS and partners are developing new methods and looking to adapt initiatives that have proven successful elsewhere," the Met said in a statement. | |
| "Communicating with those involved in violence is one part of a much broader programme of action that seemed to work in Boston at that time." | |
| The success of Boston's Operation Ceasefire was down to the strong community support in working with the police to target the gangs. | |
| "This partnership is well developed in many areas of London but further work is necessary over a significant period to deploy this type of tactic effectively," the Met said. |