Good News! Three months and no gang shooting in Manchester
More than 120 officers will be focused on tackling gun crime across Greater Manchester after a £6.5m investment.
This news has come following the announcement from Greater Manchester Police that there has been no gang shootings in the last three months.
As a local church we have been praying into this situation at several of our prayer meetings. We believe this is an answer to prayer. We believe that as we pray so we can change our city. This news encourages us to keep on praying for Manchester.
The new investment means the Xcalibre team set up in 2004 to fight gun related crime will get additional help from murder detectives, the armed crime unit and other departments.
All 12 police divisions across Greater Manchester will also have a dedicated team of officers geared to deal with gang-related crime.
The shake-up is intended to build on the recent success of Operation Cougar, which has helped cut the number of gang-related shootings.
In 2005, 75% of all shootings in Greater Manchester were believed to be gang-related. By 2007, this had dropped to 57%.
But according to Xcalibre intelligence, none of the shootings recorded since April 2008 are gang-related.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said Operation Cougar had had a “massive impact” on gang-related shootings.
“We constantly re-evaluate the way in which we handle gun crime and adapt our targets accordingly,” Mr Seabridge added.
“When we set up Xcalibre in 2004, the overall aim was for gun-free streets, and that still remains our aim today.
“To help us achieve this, a large portion of this extra cash will go towards building on the successes we’ve had in cutting the supply of firearms, removing guns from our streets and bringing offenders to justice.”
Let’s continue to pray for gun free streets in our city and for the Kingdom to come in this area of life in Manchester. We believe Manchester is changing and we continue to pray for the peace and prosperity of our city.
For more newsabout the progress and investment being made to cut gun crime, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7435191.stm
