Met Ditches Gangs Matrix After Years of Criticism by Racism Campaigners

The Metropolitan Police has announced it will stop using the Gangs Violence Matrix and replace it with another intelligence tool after years of criticism by campaigners who claimed it racially profiled young black men. Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said in a statement: “From Tuesday 13 February, the Gangs Violence Matrix will no longer exist.” The Met will instead use the Violence Harm Assessment tool “to identify and risk assess the most harmful individuals who are involved in violence in London.” Critics of the matrix, which was designed to identify members of London’s many gangs and keep tabs on their activities and feuds, argued the criteria used to put people on there was too vague and black people were over-represented on the list....