'Locals should turn in gun killers'

Controversial police chief Brian Paddick was applauded when he called on people to turn in the gun gangs who have turned parts of London into a killing zone.

Speaking at a public meeting in Brixton he asked for help to round up the guntoting "urban terrorists" who have slaughtered five youths since the start of the year and left dozens more with serious injuries.

At the launch of the Lambeth Independent Advisory Group (IAG), a body which will give members of the community a say in the Met's Operation Trident campaign against black-onblack shootings, he said: "In the past there have been problems between the police and the black community but we are earning your respect.

"This is not just a police initiative, it's a community initiative because you are fed up and I am fed up of young black people being killed by other young black people."

Calling upon locals to inform on the killers in their midst, he said: "It's not about helping the police. It's about the black community helping itself.

"You might be scared because these guys have guns. Let us scare the gunmen. Let's let them know they cannot trust anyone in the black community because they are gunmen."

Commander Paddick, Britain's highest-ranking openly gay officer, was reprimanded by the Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens and Home Secretary David Blunkett after he admitted on a radical website that he was attracted to anarchy. He has also pioneered a softly-softly approach to cannabis in Lambeth and Brixton.

Operation Trident officers predict the number of black youths fatally shot in London this year will be double last year's total of 19.

Backing Commander Paddick's call to the community Lee Jasper, Ken Livingstone's adviser on race issues and a board member of the IAG, said: "The simple fact is that the biggest threat to young black men is other young black men."

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