Trident Gang Crime Command

Operation Trident logo

Operation Trident or Trident, was a Metropolitan Police Service unit targeting gun crime and homicide in London's black communities. [1] The initiative was set up in March 1998 following a series of shootings in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Brent. The Command is currently led by Detective Superintendent Dean Haydon who joined the team from the Counter Terrorism Command in 2012. The Chairman of the Trident Independent Advisory Group (IAG) is no longer Claudia Webbe, who was a founding member of the IAG.

The perceived importance of Trident's mission was such that it was established as a dedicated Operational Command Unit called the Trident Operational Command Unit[2] within the Metropolitan Police Specialist Crime Directorate. In 2004 it expanded with the formation of Operation Trafalgar which investigates all other non-fatal shootings in London.

The campaign uses gun amnesties and advertisements encouraging people to phone Crimestoppers with information related to gun crime. These advertisements appear in the media, nightclubs, on petrol pumps, telephone boxes and on the radio.

As part of Specialist Crime and Operations Directorate, Trident is also known as SC&O8.

In 2004 16 of the initiative's 300 officers were themselves black.[3]

In 2006, Trident officers raided the home of vintage gun enthusiast Mick Shepherd, seizing much of his collection.[4] At the time, press reports claimed a "huge gun-smuggling racket" had been uncovered, and that guns sold by Shepherd were linked to a number of murders. After being held in Pentonville and then the high-security Belmarsh prisons on remand for 10 months awaiting trial,[5] Shepherd was acquitted of all 13 firearms offences with which he was charged.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Barkham, Patrick; Henley, Jon (12 August 2011), Mark Duggan: profile of Tottenham police shooting victim, UK: Guardian
  2. ↑ "Specialist Crime Directorate". UK: Metropolitan Police Service. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  3. ↑ John, Cindi (2004-10-19). "England: The force behind Operation Trident". News (BBC). Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  4. ↑ Man in court of huge gun haul, UK: This is local London.
  5. ↑ "'I was portrayed as one of Britain's biggest illegal gun dealers'", Bromley Times, 2007-07-11, archived from the original on 2007-10-20.
  6. ↑ Summers, Chris (2007-06-29). "When is a gun not a gun?". News (BBC).

External links