Armed police to man checkpoints in London as drug-related crime soars

Armed police checkpoints are to be set up on the streets of London to combat an increase in shootings between rival gangs of drug dealers.

Uniformed officers will be stationed at strategic points in the borough of Lambeth, south London, where gun-related crime has risen sharply in the past two years.

The location and frequency of the checkpoints will be based on "sound operational intelligence" and they will be situated where the risk to the public, police and suspects can be minimised, the Metropolitan Police said yesterday.

The initiative follows a pilot project earlier this year in which two checkpoints resulted in one arrest for firearms offences. The checkpoints, mostly operated in Brixton, are designed to deter gunmen and to reassure the public.

Officers manning the positions will be warned via a police computer when a car suspected of being involved in a shooting is about to approach. Officers checking passing cars will be backed up by armed colleagues near by.

Armed checkpoints in Britain are normally used by the Metropolitan Police to protect perceived terrorist targets such as the City, the Docklands and Heathrow airport. Using checkpoints for street crime remains extremely rare, and the latest initiative indicates the level of concern in Lambeth, where 43 gun crimes were recorded during July this year compared with 17 in the previous month.

Brian Moore, Lambeth's acting Commander, unveiled the plan at a meeting between police and community representatives to discuss fears arising from drug-related turf wars. "We will be using armed road-checks to intercept and arrest. This is a sign of the growing confidence that we can do this. It is a massive deterrent to gunmen if they think that there are going to be armed police," he said. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "There will be a few selected checkpoints set up in Lambeth to detect and deter gunmen based on sound operational intelligence. There is no place for gunmen in Lambeth and we are taking measures to ensure this.

"The checkpoints will operate tactically and will be positioned where the threat to the community, police and suspects is minimised."

Bob Ainsworth, a Home Office minister, has warned that gun violence related to crack cocaine could cause "massive devastation" and that it is already spreading beyond London to the home counties.

However, Mr Ainsworth denied that the experiment in the borough of Lambeth, where police have taken a "softly, softly" approach on cannabis to be able to focus on hard drugs, had attracted more dealers to the area.