'Gang culture is threat to us all'

London faces a generation of youngsters steeped in hard drugs and gang culture who are starved of decent family values, according to Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens.

Sir John today spoke of his "trepidation for the future" unless urgent action is taken by all sections of the community to combat a "values vacuum".

He revealed that 70 per cent of all offenders are under 18 and they commit 72 per cent of robberies, 55 per cent of the street crime and 57 per cent of thefts.

The young are also targets for crime and were the victims in a quarter of a million cases last year. Speaking in Westminster to the Evangelical Alliance, which represents 30 denominations in 3,000 local churches, Sir John said that in some parts of London the next generation sees crime as "an unexceptional event".

He said they exhibit a "complete acceptance of drugs in their everyday lives, adding: "I am talking about the hard and incredibly addictive drugs of heroin and crack cocaine."

The Commissioner said a lack of stability fuels chaos. "In many parts of London, the phrase - let alone the experience of 'family life' is unknown. Single parents, normally mothers, struggle to cope with any number of children of different ages and with different demands. Devoid of any familiar-role model, young men particularly but more commonly now young women, form gangs to give them some identity.

"Is it any wonder then that crime has been on an upward spiral. The youth gang members of today will be the parents of the gang members of tomorrow. And that is what we have to stop."

His speech coincided with the launch of the first Churchsponsored advertising campaign to concentrate on social values.

Unveiling the Facevalues initiative, Joel Edwards, the Evangelical Alliance's general director, said churches are ideally placed to campaign for the return to decent values. "We want to hold up the values of responsibility and trust," he said.