Sheffield gang culture on the rise

Police in Sheffield have been working to try and prevent a rise of gang culture in the city, after admitting that gang violence is now endemic.

Since a dispute over a drugs deal in December 2005 there has been a fierce rivalry between Sheffield’s two most prolific gangs: the S3 from Pitsmoor and the S4 from Burngreave.

The feud culminated in the murder of 16-year-old Jonathon Matondo on October 17 last year.

Police have recorded 45 occasions on which the two gangs opened fire on each other between December 2005 and Matondo’s killing.

However, at the murder scene a senior police officer told reporters there was no real gang culture in the city. “We have heard rumours regarding gangs operating in the area,” he said. “But gangs are not prevalent in Sheffield.”

Sheffield often promotes itself as ‘the safest city in England’ and both the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University use the tagline to encourage an influx of students.

At the time of Matondo’s murder, even the city’s political leaders seemed to be content with keeping the problem at a distance, rather than taking the opportunity to launch a clamp-down on gang violence.

This year though, two more killings of prominent S3 members in the summer, Brett Blake and Tarek Chaiboub, forced the police to publicly admit that there was a definite ‘gang element’ to crime in the city.

In response, in September inner-city Sheffield’s police force launched Operation Kindred, kicking in doors, seizing drugs and searching for guns.

In its first fortnight, officers found drugs worth £630,000, recovered three firearms and made 25 arrests for gang and drug-related offences.

More recently, detectives have begun working with children as young as five to try to stop them becoming embroiled in gang culture, after identifying that children are often introduced to gangs as look-outs for drug dealers.

Talking about gang culture, the University’s Welfare Officer, Kathryn Axon, said: “While Sheffield is the safest major student city in Britain, in places like Broomhall students can get caught up in its consequences, mainly though petty crime such as vandalism.

“However, students are often removed from the effects of gang culture; for example there have been clashes of gangs at clubs but not ones that students would usually populate.”

“When students are involved it is almost always accidental- they are not targeted,” she added.

Ross Turner