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Policing in London

The whole issue of witness protection is extremely important, particularly in the case of gang crime. A real fear resides in a lot of our communities. The sad fact is that in too many of the communities across our capital city, the basic concept of civil society—the protection offered by law of the basic right to live free from intimidation, violence and fear—has been perverted by the activities of serious criminal gangs, acting with little or no conscience and with no sense of responsibility to anyone other than themselves. They prey on some of the most vulnerable young people in our community, and the active recruitment process that they go through is organised and serious. That is why it is so important to focus and bear down on gang crime, which has sadly taken the lives of so many young people in our capital city and continues to do so.