According to the Met Police, 69% of shootings and nearly one-quarter of homicides are believed to be linked to gangs. Although gang crime is notoriously difficult to track, statistics on knife crime are thought to be largely reflective of gang violence, the former reaching its highest level of the decade in 2019, with 44 knife offences being committed per day and 94 fatal stabbing offences being recorded. Whilst lockdowns have distorted these figures throughout 2020/21, similar levels of violence were recorded during months with lighter coronavirus restrictions. The fallout from repeated Covid-19 lockdowns is thought to have made young people, in particular, far more vulnerable to exploitation by, and involvement in, gangs, as a result of periods of isolation and rising rates of absenteeism in schools. InNewham alone, the Met’s command unit refers 1,000 young people every month to local authorities on the basis that they are at risk of gang membership.