Police have cut assaults and attempted murders by more than half following a crackdown on feuding drug barons and gangsters.
POLICE have cut assaults and attempted murders by more than half following a crackdown on feuding drug barons and gangsters.
Operation Quantum - an initiative piloted in one area of South Lanarkshire - has seen a significant fall in violence and a marked rise in detection levels.
The Strathclyde Police pilot scheme, aimed at tackling violent crime between high-level criminals and drug dealers, has seen dramatic results with detection rates up from 25% to 100% and assaults and attempted murders down.
The operation, which is run by a dedicated group of CID and uniformed officers, is aimed at bringing down different drug factions and cutting violence.
Officers found witnesses were too afraid to come forward because of intimidation and that victims were refusing to give evidence because of the serious and organised crime elements involved.
A complex murder inquiry lasting roughly 12 weeks could cost £300,000. In contrast, the first 12 weeks of the operation cost approximately £80,000.
Chief Superintendent Tim Love, the divisional commander for Q division in South Lanarkshire, believes it will ultimately save lives and money.
The programme began in July 2008 following 22 serious assaults and nine attempted murders in just one month in the Hamilton, Blantyre and Larkhall areas. In July the detection rate for serious assault was just 23% in the area and the detection rate for attempted murder was 67%.
In the first four months of the initiative the attempted murder rate dropped to one or none a month - with 100% of the suspects successfully detected.
The serious assault figures have been more than halved. In November there were four, with all suspects detected.
"The age-old difficulty of criminal on criminal violence is that witnesses and victims often refuse to co-operate," said Detective Chief Inspector Neil Thomson, the head of the operation. "Enhanced intelligence gathering has proven vital in addition to greater use of CCTV and a detailed forensic strategy.
"We have had to find ways of getting around the lack of co-operation. We have also run a high-profile strategy of public reassurance and have put supportive measures in for witnesses."
