The UK Police Gangs Unit.
The Gangs Unit was a specialist unit that focused on particular aspects of gang crime in the 1970s, known as. The Gangs Unit was established by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in 1975. It was a small unit, with only a handful of officers, and it was focused on disrupting and dismantling gangs.
The Gangs Unit was disbanded in 1983. The disbandment of the Gangs Unit reflected the fact that gang crime was not as big a problem in the UK in the 1970s and early 1980s as it is today. In the 1970s, gangs were more likely to be involved in petty crime, such as muggings and burglaries. It was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that gangs began to become more involved in serious violence, such as shootings and stabbings.
The rise of gang violence in the UK led to the establishment of dedicated gang crime units in the police forces. The MPS’s Gang Crime Squad was one of the first of these units to be established, and it has played a key role in reducing gang violence in London.
The Gangs Unit was responsible for a number of different tasks in 1979, including:
Gathering intelligence on gangs
Disrupting gang activity
Dismantling gangs
Working with other agencies to tackle gang crime
Preventing young people from becoming involved in gangs
The Gangs Unit was a small unit, but it played an important role in tackling gang crime in the UK in the 1970s. The disbandment of the Gangs Unit reflected the fact that gang crime was not as big a problem in the UK at that time, but it also reflected the lack of resources available to the police to tackle gang crime. The establishment of dedicated gang crime units in the 1990s and 2000s has helped to reduce gang violence in the UK, but the problem of gangs remains a challenge for the police and other agencies.