Met Police scrap Gang Violence Matrix amidst accusations of racism
The Met Police have replaced their intelligence tool for assessing individuals' risk of violence with a new initiative, after legal challenges and research by campaigners highlighted racial discrimination by the system.
The Metropolitan Police Service has dropped its controversial ‘Gang Violence Matrix’ after years of criticism from communities about racial biases inherent to the system and its application. The human rights charity Liberty has also posed a legal challenge to the scheme.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: “Londoners will rightly judge this new approach on results. I will continue to support and hold the Met to account to ensure the new approach is effective in tackling gang violence & has the confidence of all of our diverse communities as we work to build a safer & fairer London.”
A representative of the Met stated “By focusing on the most violent and harmful offenders in London, we can better protect our communities and reduce violence”.
Research by StopWatch found that the Gang Violence Matrix led to an increase in stop and search.
Speaking to City News, Habib Kadiri, executive director of StopWatch, a campaigner’s organisation for fairer policing, was less positive about the redesigning of the gang matrix, expressing doubts on whether a new model could really be fairer and more transparent, or if this another instance of the Met Police engaging in racially discriminatory practices while dealing with the gang activity issue.
He added:
“It is telling that once the force properly listened to the concerns of community members, they realised that the issue of violence was not uniquely, or even primarily gang-related.”
According to the Met, the Gang Violence Matrix was an intelligence tool used to “to identify and risk-assess gang members across London” with the aim to reduce gang-related violence and protect young people at risk of harm and exploitation by gangs. It is to be replaced by the new ‘Violence Harm Assessment’, which is designed to identify “the most harmful individuals who are involved in violence in London”.
However, reports by StopWatch and the Information Commissioner’s Office found that the matrix disproportionately targeted young black men, by processing inaccurate data that assigned misleading gang associations to them, and failed to distinguish between victims and offenders when assigning the term ‘gang nominal’ to their name.
Research by Amnesty International found that the criteria for being added to the gangs matrix was vaguely defined and chaotically applied, and that data was shared with a range of non-police agencies, impacting applications for housing, jobs and schooling by ‘gang nominals’ and their families. StopWatch’s research confirmed that its influence ranged from prison arrangements and benefits entitlement, to job applications.
While the redesigned system focuses on the most violent offenders in society, campaigners remain doubtful on whether it will reduce the system’s disproportionate targeting of black men, who, according to StopWatch, still made up 78% of entries on the system.
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HeadlineMet Police scrap Gang Violence Matrix amidst accusations of racism
Short HeadlineMet Police scrap 'racist' Gang Violence Matrix
StandfirstThe Met Police have replaced their intelligence tool for assessing individuals' risk of violence with a new initiative, after legal challenges and research by campaigners highlighted racial discrimination by the system.
The Metropolitan Police Service has dropped its controversial ‘Gang Violence Matrix’ after years of criticism from communities about racial biases inherent to the system and its application. The human rights charity Liberty has also posed a legal challenge to the scheme.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: “Londoners will rightly judge this new approach on results. I will continue to support and hold the Met to account to ensure the new approach is effective in tackling gang violence & has the confidence of all of our diverse communities as we work to build a safer & fairer London.”
A representative of the Met stated “By focusing on the most violent and harmful offenders in London, we can better protect our communities and reduce violence”.
Research by StopWatch found that the Gang Violence Matrix led to an increase in stop and search.
Speaking to City News, Habib Kadiri, executive director of StopWatch, a campaigner’s organisation for fairer policing, was less positive about the redesigning of the gang matrix, expressing doubts on whether a new model could really be fairer and more transparent, or if this another instance of the Met Police engaging in racially discriminatory practices while dealing with the gang activity issue.
He added:
“It is telling that once the force properly listened to the concerns of community members, they realised that the issue of violence was not uniquely, or even primarily gang-related.”
According to the Met, the Gang Violence Matrix was an intelligence tool used to “to identify and risk-assess gang members across London” with the aim to reduce gang-related violence and protect young people at risk of harm and exploitation by gangs. It is to be replaced by the new ‘Violence Harm Assessment’, which is designed to identify “the most harmful individuals who are involved in violence in London”.
However, reports by StopWatch and the Information Commissioner’s Office found that the matrix disproportionately targeted young black men, by processing inaccurate data that assigned misleading gang associations to them, and failed to distinguish between victims and offenders when assigning the term ‘gang nominal’ to their name.
Research by Amnesty International found that the criteria for being added to the gangs matrix was vaguely defined and chaotically applied, and that data was shared with a range of non-police agencies, impacting applications for housing, jobs and schooling by ‘gang nominals’ and their families. StopWatch’s research confirmed that its influence ranged from prison arrangements and benefits entitlement, to job applications.
While the redesigned system focuses on the most violent offenders in society, campaigners remain doubtful on whether it will reduce the system’s disproportionate targeting of black men, who, according to StopWatch, still made up 78% of entries on the system.
