Met: Brent is worst borough

Rank and file police officers in Brent today identified the borough as the worst in London for gun crime.

A survey of Brent officers found that 85 per cent would be willing to carry firearms at all times and 92 per cent were unhappy with the current system of providing armed back-up for unarmed men.

The results of the poll among Brent officers was revealed today at the Police Federation's annual conference in Blackpool.

It shows serious concerns about what officers see as a perceived lack of armed cover in the borough, which is one of five being targeted because of the level of firearms crime. The survey also shows 82 per cent of frontline officers in Brent wanted to see armed officers in local patrol cars instead of the current system of having an armed response vehicle.

Inspector Philip Perry, of Brent police, said: "The officers want more armed support to do their job effectively. They get frustrated that they are unable to deliver the service that we should to the public. In the last six months officers have had guns pulled on them on 30 occasions." In one incident Brent officers spotted a wanted murder suspect who was known to carry guns but they lost him because an armed response car was not available to help in the arrest.

Mr Perry said: "We do not have no-go areas but we do not always have the ability to deal with situations that arise." Details of the survey in Brent come after 78 per cent of officers in a national poll rejected the routine arming of police. Mr Perry said Brent was one of eight boroughs in London plagued with similar levels of gun crime. Two years ago the borough

witnessed a spate of 13 killings linked to drugs.

Official figures for last month show that the borough had two murders and 16 attempted murders. It suffers from a series of social problems concentrated on sink estates such as Church End.

Gangs, divided along ethnic lines, are engaged in a constant battle for the lucrative trade in drugs which are said to be endemic among local youths. The area has also seen an upsurge in Tamil refugee violence.

In the last three months three people have been shot dead, five people had been shot and injured and there were a further six firearms incidents.

Mr Perry said: "I do not think that routinely arming police is the answer but we have to look at how the police in high gun crime areas deal with these problems." The survey polled 550 officers in Brent of whom 150 responded.