POLICE must win back the streets to stop ruthless drug gangsters killing more innocents like nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, former Met commissioner Lord John Stevens said last night.
It comes as a recent spike in gang violence and shootings has led to Liverpool being dubbed “Triggerpool” after a lull following the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones 15 years ago.
The ex-top cop, who transformed London’s Met, told The Sun: “Violent crime and gun offences are on the up in cities like Liverpool and London.
“The drug market is escalating and with more on the street there is more gang warfare as criminals fight over territory and profits.
“It appears that this is what has happened here. Criminals have become so confident they feel they can go around shooting at people in houses. The police have got to get a grip on that.”
Former cops, victims and even criminals say gun violence fuelled by drugs is now tearing Liverpool apart.
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In 2007, when Rhys was murdered, there were 29 gun offences per 100,000 people recorded in the region.
By 2016, it had gone down to 11, but numbers then started climbing again before a lull during the pandemic.
In the 12 months to the end of March this year, firearms offences in Merseyside rose from 140 to 211.
Lord Stevens said: “Above all, the police have got to get more involved in the community. Firstly, to get the intelligence they need on these gangs.
“Secondly, to win public confidence and thirdly so when this kind of tragedy happens there is a big police presence on the streets — and not just for a few days.
“Sadly, we have seen an incredible reduction in neighbourhood policing over the last few years.
“But police have got to get back out on to the streets so criminals know they can’t go around killing people.”
In the past week, the death toll has risen by four, with three fatal shootings and a fatal stabbing — taking the total number in Merseyside this year to 14.
With a population around a tenth of London’s nine million, the kill rate in Liverpool is almost two-and-a-half times higher.
The gun crime wave is mainly being fuelled by a new breed of trigger-happy drug dealers.
When Sean Mercer, 16, shot Rhys in 2007, as the boy walked home from football practice, he used a battered World War One revolver and rode a mountain bike. T
oday’s street gangs are more likely to be on e-scooters packing sawn-off shot guns.
And the dire situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, with the imminent release of Liverpool’s most famous drug baron looming.
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Curtis “Cocky” Warren, 59, was jailed for 13 years in 2009 on drugs charges.
He is due for release in November. One source said: “His presence could be the very worst thing for Liverpool now — or the best if he still has the muscle to keep the scooter shooters in line.”
