Timeline of Resistance

Operation Trident is introduced as a new unit with an aim of “tackling Black-on-Black gun crime." Its launch follows a series of shootings in Lambeth and Brent.

ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) are civil orders imposed in the criminal courts. The introduction of ASBOs demonstrated a clear expansion of pre-emptive and pre-criminalising orders used in response to "public nuisance" crimes, with young people more likely to be targeted. The breaching of these orders could result in heavy sanctions, including prison sentences of up to 5 years.

Following the murder of Black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, by a group of white youths; then home secretary Jack Straw announced the establishment of an inquiry into his death. This followed the dropping of charges against two of the white youths, years of campaigning by the Lawrence family, the collapse of a private case by them and a subsequent announcement of an investigation into the case by the Police Complaints Authority.

The Macpherson report was groundbreaking in its findings. It was the first time that institutional racism in policing was publicly named by an official source. The report concluded that the investigation into the killing had been “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership."

Operation BLUNT 2 uses “knife crime intelligence” to target stop and search in particular London boroughs. Boroughs are assigned to varying tiers based on this “intelligence.’

Stop and searches increased threefold in the 10 boroughs assigned to tier 1, and increased significantly across other boroughs. A key part of this operation was the use of Section 60, which drastically increased the number of suspicionless stop and searches.

Operation Trident police officers are involved in the killing of Mark Duggan in Tottenham, North London. A peaceful protest follows, led by Mark Duggan’s family and members of the local community who travelled from Broadwater farm to Tottenham police station. Once at the station, the police refuse to speak to the family who were yet to receive confirmation of Mark Duggan’s death. Uprisings began as a result of further police violence. The next 5 days are widely publicised as the London ‘riots’ of 2011.

Then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Met Police Commissioner at the time, Bernard Hogan-Howe re-launch ‘Operation Trident’ as the ‘Trident Gang Crime Command.’ It is announced as a specialist unit to deliver ‘more enforcement against gangs’. A few months later, new ‘Gangs Task Forces’ were established across London boroughs to facilitate greater intelligence sharing between the Met, local authorities and voluntary agencies.

Section 26 of the Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty on public sector workers to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” The policy embedded discrimination into public services, eroding relationships which rely on trust, while fostering a culture of self-censorship. Muslims are most likely to be targeted.

Report provides evidence of the relationship between the use of the gang label and the use of collective forms of punishment, specifically highlighting Joint Enterprise. The report presents the findings from approximately 250 people in prison who were serving custodial sentences.

R v Jogee legal challenge brought by Just for Kids Law and JENGbA results in the Supreme Court setting out to reconsider joint enterprise doctrine and claiming law has taken a 'wrong turn' and been misinterpreted.

A Home Office commissioned review of Operation BLUNT 2 evidences no correlation between stop and search and a reduction in knife crime.

Then home secretary, Amber Rudd announces new Serious Violence Strategy centred on 4 main themes:

- tackling county lines and misuse of drugs

- early intervention and prevention

- supporting communities and local partnerships

- law enforcement and the criminal justice response

A Violent Crime Taskforce (VCT) is established to "ensure sustained, swift and decisive action against violent crime." The VCT was created as a coalition of government ministers, cross-party MPs, police leaders, local government and the voluntary sector. No public evidence exists showing how the £40 million was spent, the impact of the VCT or of the wider Serious Violence Strategy.

Amnesty’s report shows that the Gangs Matrix is based on a vague and ill-defined concept of 'the gang' that has little objective meaning and is applied inconsistently in different London boroughs. The report describes how the Matrix and the process for adding individuals to it, assigning 'risk scores' and sharing data with partner agencies appears to be similarly ill-defined with few, if any safeguards and very little oversight.

This report critiques the Gangs Matrix showing that it is racialised and captures not only the names of those alleged to have been involved in violence, but also the details of their peers and associates with little or no evidence of them having used violence. The report argues that police have been allowed to infect the entire public sector with their own unique form of institutionalised racism.

This report by Dr Patrick Williams explores how being labelled a ‘gang nominal’, placed on the Gangs Matrix and subjected to an enhanced level of policing and multi-agency interventions impacts on people. Contrary to the mainstream narrative, the report argues that negative attitudes that young people have towards the police are not a result of their early childhood interactions with the police, but rather stem from the stop and search encounters they experience as older children and teenagers.

London Mayor, Sadiq Khan introduces a Violent Reduction Unit (VRU) to London in an attempt to "treat violent crime as a public health issue."

The Mayor promises that the VRU will work alongside the police. Racial justice campaigners warn that the VRU will exacerbate relations between communities and the police because of this commitment to working alongside law enforcement.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) publish an enforcement notice detailing how the Metropolitan Police’s use of the Gang’s Matrix has breached data protection law continuously since it was created in 2011.

The MOPAC review concluded that, “The percentage of Black, African-Caribbean males on the Matrix exceeds that of the general population, as well as across many crime types, including those most associated with serious gang or group-related violence.”

Violence Suppression Units (VSU) inject intense police activity into 250 of London’s ‘microbeats’: areas identified as ‘synonymous with drugs and violence’.

Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs) are trialled in London targeting those aged 12 and over who are suspected to be involved in knife crime.

The Home Office claimed that the orders are to be “preventative rather than punitive,” where they are civil orders, rather than criminal. However, courts can impose the order, even if a person is not caught with a knife and breaching an order is deemed a criminal offence, punishable by up to 2 years in prison.

Analysis reveals that young Black men were stopped and searched by police more than 20,000 times in London during the lockdown of Spring 2020. This equates to 30% of all young Black males in London, though some individuals may have been searched more than once. It is reported that more than 80% of the 21,950 searches between March and May resulted in no further action.

4Front reclaim a disused chemist on Grahame Park Estate and transform it into Jahiem's Justice Centre, a powerful youth space, named after 4Front member, Jahiem Legister-Hall, who was tragically, killed in 2019.

In transforming a disused chemist on an estate undergoing aggressive ‘regeneration’ into a welcoming base for healing, creativity and community power building; 4Front demonstrate how existing infrastructure and services can be repurposed to nurture young people. In particular, by providing specialist support for young people directly affected by the Gangs Matrix, 4Front uses legal advocacy and young people’s testimony to fight for change.

Government introduces Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill - a new piece of legislation which sets out to expand stop and search, restrict protest, increase prison sentences and criminalise Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities’ way of life.

Ten years on from the Tottenham Uprisings sparked by the police killing of Mark Duggan, Institute of Contemporary Arts hosts 'War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights,' an exhibition curated by London-based racial advocacy and community organisation, Tottenham Rights, together with independent curators Kamara Scott and Rianna Jade Parker.

The Home Office announce plans to permanently relax the conditions of section 60 use. Section 60 empowers police to stop and search anyone for any reason in a given area for a limited amount of time.

Home Office data shows that Black people are 18 times more likely to be stopped and searched under section 60 than white people (2019/20 figures).

StopWatch and Liberty launch a legal challenge over then home secretary, Priti Patel's decision to relax safeguards on section 60 search tactics.

According to Stopwatch, the safeguards "led to reductions in the use of section 60 stop and searches. However, in 2019, Priti Patel expanded a pilot suspension of safeguards over section 60 usage to all forces, claiming it would ‘empower police to take more knives off the streets.’ This is despite weapons being found in around only 1% of section 60 stop and searches and all the evidence showing that stop and search has no significant impact on knife crime."

Awate Suleiman, UNJUST and Liberty launch a legal challenge against the Met Police. They argue that the Gangs Matrix database discriminates against people of colour, particularly Black men and boys, and breaches human rights, data protection requirements and public law principles.

Legal challenge brought by Awate Sulliman, UNJUST, and Liberty leads to the Met Police agreeing 'wholesale change' to the Gangs Matrix.

The case was due to be held at the Royal Courts of Justice, however, prior to the case going to court, the Met settled, admitting that the operation of the database was ‘unlawful’ and agreeing that more than 1000 names would be removed.

The Met admitted that the Matrix breached the right to a private and family life, and that Black people are disproportionately represented on it. The most recent review of the Matrix showed that almost 80% of those on it are Black.