WAY OF THE GUN
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| Compare Birmingham UK with Birmingham USA |
Gun crime in the Midlands is on the
increase, but how does it compare with the United States? And what
lessons can be learned from Birmingham,
Alabama?
Gun crime has doubled in the Midlands over the past six
years, and there are now more criminals than ever using illegal firearms.
It's a problem that provoked a national outcry following
the shootings of two young women, Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis,
in Birmingham last year.
So what can be done to crack down on gun crime and make
our streets safer? And does the answer lie across the Atlantic?
Inside Out goes on patrol in Birmingham, Alabama with
the American Police team whose motto is "one hundred per cent enforcement".
Gun crime USA
Birmingham, Alabama has a history of gun crime. It has
a murder rate of 70 per year, more than the whole of the West Midlands
put together.
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| Local people
are hit with a five-year sentence if they're found with an illegal
gun |
But Birmingham Alabama Police has developed a tough,
new approach to the problem.
Anyone caught selling drugs within a three mile radius
of a school or housing estate is hit with five years in jail on top of
any charges, if they're found carrying an illegal gun.
This aggressive prosecution of illegal gun crimes is
part of Project ICE which stands for Isolate the Criminal Element.
It has reduced gun related killings by half, and has
been successful in isolating criminals found in possession of any firearms.
Project ICE
Sergeant Ed Bussey who runs Project Ice is well aware
of the extent of the gun problem in Birmingham, Alabama.
He says, "In the USA you can't buy a hand gun till
you're 21, so kids buy rifles all they want."
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| The police
boast 6,500 seized, illegal guns in their locker |
Project ICE is designed to put these red hot street weapons
into deep freeze for years to come.
One of his police colleagues extols the virtues of the
scheme,
"Project Ice is a great programme... we can work together to try
to increase the time on the bad guys when they have a weapon involved
in a crime.
"It definitely discourages the bad guys from having
guns... 'cos they know if they're caught with a gun, that's an automatic
five years of federal prison time."
Bullet proof?
Another crucial plank of Birmingham USA's crime reduction
strategy is technology. The Police has a cunning plan - and it involves
tracking down bullets.
In the UK, there is a National Forensic Data Base that
enables the Police to analyse bullets.
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| Ballistics
- police can analyse bullets and solve crime more easily |
But Birmingham Alabama has gone one step further - the
local police force has set up its own specialist system to analyse all
firearms.
This enables the police to examine evidence from all
shootings from threatening shots fired in the air to homicides.
"We have the ability to take evidence that might
never have been connected to another crime and connect it now.
"It's like DNA for bullets and cartridges,"
says the head of the unit.
Policing for people
Birmingham, Alabama has one thing in common with its
British namesake - it has a large black population, 70% of its total.
In the 1960s Birmingham was renowned for being one of
the most racist cities in the USA.
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| Stamping down
on complacency and gun crime |
The city was a centre for the civil rights movement,
and its mostly white police force set dogs and
water hoses on campaigners protesting in the streets.
In 1963 the divide between black and white was further
exacerbated when the Ku Klux Klan planted a bomb beside the city's 16th
Street Baptist Church.
F our innocent school girls were
killed, and many others were injured. It was a crime that shocked the
nation.
Today things are very different. More than 50% of Birmingham's
police department are black, including its Chief of Police, Annetta Nunn.
She's enthusiastic about the city's new image, "We
are proud of the Police Department because blacks and whites are working
together. It's much better than it was then."
Annetta Nunn is also an inspiring role model for young
black people in the city, which is perhaps something that Birmingham UK
could learn from.
Back home
So what else can Birmingham UK learn from Birmingham
USA?
Annetta Nunn has some advice on guns and gang crime for
us, "I would warn against complacency."
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| Could this
become the style of policing in Britain? |
She also warns against the glamourisation of violence,
whether in the movies or in street culture.
"People become desensitised to violence and crime
is more likely to increase," she says.
Her colleague Paul Hook agrees, "You have to watch
for it now as it will escalate, and once it gets going, it's really hard
to stop".
It's a chilling message. It also makes you wonder whether
the police methods employed in Birmingham, Alabama, will soon be used
on the streets of Birmingham, England?
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