In late January, a young black woman made a series of increasingly distressed calls to the police operator.
She had discovered a gun in the drawer of her black friend’s bedroom and wanted to hand it in.
The pistol was wrapped up and she didn’t know if it was his or he was looking after it, maybe under duress. Either way, her decision to call the cops would be life changing.
Gun crime in London is on the rise and indiscriminate shootings by gang members fighting over turf and respect has left innocent bystanders hurt in the crossfire.
Converted weapons, usually blank-firing guns, make up the majority of lethal firearms seized by the Metropolitan police. The gun in the drawer was such a weapon.
Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and officers on Trident, his gun crime unit, know that building confidence among an already over-policed and distrusting black community is the key to tackling the problem of gangs who can’t shoot straight.
This is the staggering story of what happened when an imperfect young black woman risked her life to do the right thing.
