Operation Trident, or simply Trident, is a

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

unit, originally set up in 1998 for the Black community, as a community led initiative with the police to tackle gun crime and homicide disproportionately affecting

African-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

communities, following a series of shootings in the

London borough The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...

s of

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area e ...

and Brent. By 2008 the unit was responsible for investigating ''all'' non-fatal shootings for the Metropolitan Police, and in February 2012 the unit's remit was again expanded: the new Trident Gang Crime Command was launched, incorporating responsibility for tackling wider gang crime. In 2013 the unit gave up responsibility for investigating fatal shootings, which was taken over by the

Homicide and Serious Crime Command The Homicide and Serious Crime Command (SCD 1) was an Operational Command Unit of the Metropolitan Police responsible for the investigation of homicide and other serious crimes in London. Most of their work was carried out by Murder Investigation ...

. Trident is currently led by Detective Chief Superintendent Dean Haydon, who joined the team from the Counter Terrorism Command in 2012. 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, within the Metropolitan Police Specialist Crime Directorate. The campaign uses gun amnesties and

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

s encouraging people to phone

Crimestoppers Crime Stoppers or Crimestoppers is a community program that helps people to provide anonymous information about criminal activity. Often managed by non-profit groups or the police, it operates separately from the emergency telephone number sys ...

with information related to gun crime. These advertisements appear in the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gen ...

s, on petrol pumps, telephone boxes, and on the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

. As part of Specialist Crime and Operations Directorate, Trident is also known as SC&O8. As the timeline of the police unit and program has roughly paralleled the development and growth of the rap-styled UK Grime urban music scene, Trident and Grime have had numerous and varied interactions that have mirrored early controversy and conflict around American Gangsta Rap. While some artists like Giggs have spoken out against what they claim is heavy-handed censorship and attempts to sabotage their careers by applying pressure to venue owners, radio stations, and record labels, others like the Roll Deep Crew have worked with Trident to create anti-violence messaging packaged in ways more likely to reach marginalized urban youth. Prominent artist JME, particularly known for his conscious lyrics which are dismissive of content that relies on excessively violent hyperbole, released a short film via VICE Magazine, entitled "The Police vs Grime Music", investigating the legal details of the phenomenon of police suppression of grime events. In 2006, Trident officers raided the home of vintage gun enthusiast Mick Shepherd, seizing much of his collection. 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 Pentonville is an area on the northern fringe of Central London, in the London Borough of Islington. It is located north-northeast of Charing Cross on the Inner Ring Road. Pentonville developed in the northwestern edge of the ancient parish ...

and then the high-security Belmarsh prisons on remand for 10 months awaiting trial, Shepherd was acquitted of all 13 firearms offences with which he was charged.

References

External links

Claudia Webbe Resigns as Chair of IAG
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Stop the guns
* . * . * . * . * . * . * * . * . {{Metropolitan Police Firearm laws

Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mar ...

Metropolitan Police units Organised crime in London

See also

References

External links