Youths told to use banter, not blades, in bid to tackle gangs

YOUNGSTERS were urged to settle rows with banter, not blades, in a fresh drive against Scotland's youth gang culture launched today.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced £200,000 is to be spent across the country in the battle to get teenagers out of gangs.

The cash will go to local schemes designed to combat gang culture – including "conflict resolution skills" and workshops to tackle territorialism.

The majority of the funding will go to Glasgow, and comes a week after a report revealed Scotland's biggest city has 170 teenage gangs – the same number as in London despite a population one-sixth the size.

However, five professionals from Edinburgh are also to receive specialist training to tackle youth gangs in the Capital.

And Mr MacAskill, MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, is inviting the city council and police to bid for a share of the £200,000. While Lothian and Borders Police were keen to stress that gangs were not a major issue in Edinburgh, they confirmed that they will be joining the bidding process.

Mr MacAskill said: "Most areas of Scotland are great places to live and work. However, a small minority of our communities are blighted by gangs and the violence and antisocial behaviour they create.

"We are determined to take action to help those who are involved in gangs."

Speaking during a visit to Govan today, he said the initiative was about challenging the assumptions of young people that gang membership brought protection.

He continued: "I hope we can persuade more of these youngsters involved in gangs – or on the cusp of gang membership – to think again about whether gang life is really a protection from harm.

"And I hope that better-informed professional staff can work with these youngsters to help them resolve conflicts without violence – using banter more readily than a blade. We are determined to offer more of our youngsters a chance to get out of this cycle of offending."

The fund will allow agencies – such as the police or city councils – to deliver tailored interventions to supplement their day-to-day work in combating gang culture and youth disorder.

In addition, specialist training – including a toolkit with over 40 examples of intervention workshops and programmes – is being delivered to 72 professionals around Scotland, mainly consisting of police officers and local authority staff. This is to be provided by the LEAP Confronting Conflict organisation – a charity which specialises in tackling gang culture.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy McKay, Safer Scotland co-ordinator, said: "The majority of our young people are not involved in group violence or disorder, and most will grow up to be a credit to their community.

"But there is, sadly, a small minority who are engaged in or on the verge of being engaged in this kind of antisocial behaviour, behaviour which damages their communities and blights their lives and the lives of those around them."