They are known as MBs – microbeats – small sections of London synonymous with drugs and violence. The scruffy strip of shops that lines London Road outside West Croydon station is the most notorious MB in the south London borough, itself one of the metropolis’s most violent by far.
Covid-19 brought a brief hiatus to Croydon’s cycle of violence. Now signs suggest it is slowly returning.
At 4.30pm last Wednesday one of the large gangs that operate outside West Croydon station emerged for the first time in weeks, marking old territory. A patrol car slowed beside the group of around 20 “known faces”. A stand-off ensued. “We’re from the same house,” said one, referencing the lockdown measures that ban large gatherings.
A few months ago the police might have paused to weigh up this potentially escalating altercation. But coronavirus has transformed most things, policing included.
As the streets remained eerily quiet and crime fell during lockdown, the Metropolitan police’s senior command started strategising. Covid-19 had gifted them an opportunity to reclaim the roads. New “violence suppression units” (VSUs) were set up. These would be given the task of ensuring serious crime never returned to pre-lockdown levels.
It was decided that the units, and their 620 officers, would target around 250 of London’s most alarming microbeats. But their arrival also signifies something deeper, confirming the end of austerity, where dwindling police numbers were forced to beat a retreat from the streets. Organised criminals proved adept at filling the vacuum – the county line business model prospered, with thousands of youngsters exploited as drug runners. Violence flourished.
Last year the number of homicides in London hit a 10-year high, increasing by more than 50% from levels in 2014.
Nine murders have occurred in Croydon over the past 12 months, including three this year – a 16-year-old knifed in the middle of the rush hour, a 17-year-old stabbed on a bus, and a 24-year-old killed after a “frenzied attack” near a tram stop.
The hope is that the VSUs can stem the bloodshed and reclaim the streets. During last Wednesday’s stand-off, an officer from the unit left his car and began remonstrating with the group. Gang members began backing away. They soon dispersed. The assertive policing was deliberate.
“We’re back to being part of society again, recognised as part of the community. It’s a generational battle but at least we’re out there,” said Ch Insp Craig Knight of the Met’s south area command, responsible for the 965,000 people of Croydon, Sutton and Bromley.
Last week, the Observer joined one of his VSUs, a foot patrol along the frontline MB of West Croydon station.
Much of the borough’s crime is shoehorned into the nearby grid of streets and shopping areas. On Friday, the Met appealed for witnesses after a 21-year-old was stabbed in the back with a ‘“small bladed weapon” on London Road.
During the year to April almost 11,000 offences of violence against the person were recorded in Croydon. Only Westminster, which covers central London, counted more. Of those in Croydon, 3,750 were classified as “violence with injury”. Again, of the capital’s 33 boroughs, only Westminster experienced more.
Sgt Paul Looker of the VSU gestured ahead as the station came into view. “Here we are, you might notice a difference in the area,” said the 45-year-old.
An imitation handgun and a large machete were recently found hidden beneath marrows at a London Road grocery, planted by gang members should a situation escalate. Officers are investigating if the store was complicit or coerced. The latter would be no major revelation. The dealers of London Road are adroit in intimidation. Large groups of 20 congregate on its corners. It might seem odd that criminals would choose to be conspicuous, but fear is currency in west Croydon. “It’s designed to intimidate – intimidate rivals, the community, even us,” said Looker.
The sizeable groups serve another purpose. Standing in their centre, encircled by layers of enforcers, is the primary drug holder. “Often the carrier is in the middle. If you approach they can start jostling and run in every direction. They know what they’re doing,” said Looker.
Tensions between gangs periodically flare on London Road. A video emerged last year showing youngsters fighting on the street in broad daylight with metal pipes as weapons. Yet the complexities of gangland territory dictate that most have learned to coexist. “They even help each other, work with each other and sometimes hang out together,” said Looker.
While groups maintain an overt presence amid the bustle of London Road, it’s off the main drag where deals are made. The station car park is particularly “hot”, so too the labyrinthine alleyways and dead-ends off nearby Mead Place and Derby Road.
Further south lies Croydon’s central shopping strip where heroin and crack users shoplift to afford their next hit. Outside Marks & Spencer a fresh-faced officer belonging to Looker’s unit is chatting to teenagers seen “floating around the area” in a suspicious manner.
Alex is one of the Met’s 700 new recruits, the first tranche of the 20,000 extra officers promised in England and Wales by the government.
The 26-year-old began policing three weeks ago. A fortnight into his fledgling Met career he found his first Rambo knife. Following intelligence over the weekend he searched a man on the Ben Hill estate in nearby Sutton and recovered a large kitchen knife. “It’s about trying to stop something before it happens,” said Alex.
Looker said the new recruits brought an enthusiasm that had been challenged during the years of declining officer numbers. “They’re not jaded,” he said. “Austerity had got people down. And belonging to a VSU means you’re out on the streets, it’s rewarding.”
The units, says Looker, promise a return to the old-school principles of pounding the pavement while accumulating policing’s most precious commodity: intelligence. Officers are taught to know every detail of a microbeat, the new faces, the backstory of each shopkeeper, every beggar. During one shift last week, the eight officers of a team belonging to Croydon’s VSU acquired 24 intelligence reports, each offering promising leads. “From a violence perspective we’ve never had that before,” said Knight.
He appreciates the flow of information from the community will be critical to reducing the violence. During a recent visit to a Croydon MB he talked to its homeless, often the eyes and ears of the street. “I spoke to all the vagrants, got their life story, and tested the team if they also knew.”
Also critical will be stemming the flow of youngsters to the street gangs. Around 93,000 under-18s are within the Met’s south area command. Within deprived locales such as west Croydon the dealing gangs are adroit at grooming vulnerable children and adolescents anxious to prove themselves.
The pace of exploitation can be shocking. Looker refers to a recent case where they caught a youngster in care carrying cannabis for a gang. The child had arrived in Croydon just two days earlier.
Even the lowest snippet of intelligence is scrutinised for signs a child might be at risk. Reports that a minor has started carrying a knife lead to their school being notified and social services alerted. Currently, around 20 youngsters a month are identified in Croydon and targeted with programmes encouraging them to change direction. None are criminalised. Officers know children who offend are often themselves victims.
One child told Knight that his family was so poor they could not afford electricity two nights a week. “He ended up shoplifting to feed his family. It’s part of their backstory and you have to be aware of that,” he said.
Insp Kathy Morteo is responsible for ensuring Croydon’s vulnerable children avoid the clutches of the London Road gangs. She tours youth groups and schools, asking teachers if they’ve noticed signs of gang involvement or rumours of knife carrying among pupils. “My job is protecting the youth of tomorrow,” said Morteo.
Looker knows what can happen when intervention fails. A decade ago he was first on the scene to reports of a child stabbed outside a school in Streatham, south London. He found Zac Olumegbon lying on his back in the garden of a house metres from the school. Four members of a Brixton gang had stabbed the 15-year-old twice in the heart. “Nothing can prepare you for that. You’re seeing a small child, a dead child,” said Looker.
The VSU ultimately hopes to break tit-for-tat gangland attacks among pupils. Among its first objectives, however, is eradicating Croydon’s “habitual knife carriers” from its streets. “We pursue them, disrupt them, get them on anything. Every possible effort is made to target them,” said Knight.
Originally they identified 22 habitual knife carriers operating across the command area. Soon it was down to four. Another was arrested last Tuesday.
During the week to last Wednesday, Croydon’s VSU made 28 arrests, seized seven knives, conducted 104 weapon sweeps and executed 240 intelligence-led stop and searches.
Looker is a staunch advocate of the latter, aware it can be controversial. When its use declined he believes gangs were emboldened to carry more lethal weaponry. “Some of the knives were absolutely horrible,” said Looker.
Currently, there are 28 microbeats across Croydon, Sutton and Bromley. Some are 20 square metres, others the length of a high street. Many encircle west Croydon, including hotspots for teenage street robberies.
During the coronavirus containment measures, robberies across the command area fell from 170 a month to around 60. Now the lockdown is easing, the old criminal patterns are re-emerging. Can Croydon’s entrenched relationship with violence be quashed? Looker is confident. “We’ll turn the corner.”
