It is a far better use of limited resources to target those 12-year olds who are not yet gang members and instil in them the confidence to say no. Photograph: Rex Features
As the Channel 4 Street Weapons Commission team have travelled the UK over the last few weeks gathering evidence on the causes and effects of knife and gun crime, I have been struck by how varied the approach is to tackling the problem, says Alexander Gardiner.
Most of our worst affected cities are keen to downplay the issue, prefacing everything with caveats like "of course we don't really have a problem here, but..." In the light of this, Glasgow was a blast of fresh air.
In the "murder capital of Europe" they don't try to put a tourist-friendly gloss on the situation. With a 400 -year history of gangs they accept the problem is entrenched, discuss it freely and are open to radical solutions.
This has led to some innovative thinking. While in other cities the primary response is police led - encouraged by a "tough on crime" home secretary who advocates in-your-face policing, in Glasgow they treat it as a public health issue. This means early intervention - prevention being better than cure.
As deputy chief superintendent John Carnochan, of Strathclyde Police's violence reduction unit puts it: "If that young boy was at risk from disease you'd quite happily inoculate him."
In families where there are three or four generations of gang members (often in territories little more than a few streets big) targeting a 12-year-old alpha male is often too late. Sending them on courses to build confidence and learn leadership skills only helps make them better equipped gang leaders. It is a far better use of limited resources to target those 12-year olds who are not yet members and instil in them the confidence to say no.
For Geoff Smith, a police officer attached to St Mungo's Academy, a Roman Catholic co-ed comprehensive in the city, this also means convincing girls that gang members aren't cool. At any big gang fight there will be a posse of them watching admiringly. He will go and talk to them about their partner selection. If boys are so ready to fight now, he asks, what will they be like to you in a couple of years when with a screaming baby, no money and you're trying to stop them going out? Such an approach has helped see a dramatic drop in the number of gang members at his school, where once there were nine gangs represented, now there are only three.
This doesn't to mean that those involved in gang violence are written off. Policing is tough, but the threat of prison isn't enough. It is all about identifying that "teachable moment" when the kid is most open to change. Take a stab victim, trying to reach out to him in A&E is usually ineffective. They are too angry and pumped up with adrenalin, but it might be in the follow-up, outpatient visit, when he's feeling battered and bruised that he'll seriously think about a change of lifestyle.
Of course none of this is cheap, but you do get a real sense in Glasgow that a 400-year- old cycle of territorial street violence is beginning to be broken.
The Street Weapons Commission report will be published in July with the hearings televised on Channel 4.
· Alexander Gardiner is executive producer of the television series. The hearings are online at www.channel4.co.uk/streetweapons
