Worrying new figures show the the amount of children in Gloucestershire at risk of being involved with gang life and culture is soaring.

Of the near 5,000 young people that were assessed by social services in the county between 2018 and 2019 at least 177 of them have been identified as being involved with a gang or under threat from a gang. In 2014/15 it was just 37.

We spoke to a young man involved with a gang in the county for a time and the things that he witnessed in that time.

The circumstances as to how he was involved with the group were largely down to not having anything to do.

He wished to remain anonymous as he opened up about the events that he found himself involved with.

'They like police chases'

He said: “I have known some people as young as 12 years old stealing cars and going for joy rides. They do it because they like the police chase. The ones that I know have been doing it from the age of 12 to around 17 to 18 years old.

A file picture of a person with a knife in the street

“They mainly do things like that because they are bored. They like taking police chases.

“I have mainly seen this sort of thing happening in and around Cheltenham really.

“Groups from Cheltenham do not like it when a group from Gloucester comes over.”

He was witness to stabbings and a young girl being hit over the head with a hammer.

As much as this is a shocking situation to be in, it seemed to be largely what was expected to happen when gangs of young people would be in a position where they clearly did not like one another, he said.

He said: “A lot of groups of kids do not go around hurting people. Most of the time they have nothing really to do with drugs.

“Some really do not like it when there is a group from Gloucester in Cheltenham.

“One Gloucester kid was seen by a group of the Cheltenham lot. He got circled and pushed around. He was on his own and then they let him go.

“Then he went off and the Gloucester kids turned up.

Youths allegedly take over Gloucester city centre at night.
A group of young people

“One of them got stabbed and he went to the floor.

“Fair play to him he got up and rolled a fag and asked for a lighter.”

Ego boost

He says that there is a difference between kids messing around being a nuisance and then being part of a gang.

“I have known it when a group of kids get called a gang and there is a bit of an uproar. They have only been being a pain by playing hide and seek in shops and that. It is not a gang.

“There are groups of people that will start on someone if you look at them funny.”

He described a situation where some group members would barge into a man for no reason.

They did it to boost their ego, he claims, and it was in a bid to look good.

He said: “I have seen those I have hung around with just barge into someone.  The bloke who they have barged would tell them to f**k off and then they would start.

“They would go for him. It would be a certain few and not all of them.”

He has stated that he knows they they find it fun to cause trouble.

Luckily this young man managed to leave that life and association behind and has moved away.

But all too quickly it can escalate from being part of a gang to getting heavily involved with situations that can lead to a life of criminal activity.

Gang numbers in Gloucestershire

The latest government figures have revealed that social services assessed 4,986 children in our county in 2018/19.

Of those, 177 were deemed to be either already in a gang, at risk of joining one, or at risk of violence from a gang.

The number was up from 119 cases the year before, and nearly five times as many as the 37 cases seen in 2014/15, when the figures were published for the first time.

How many youngsters are at risk in Gloucestershire, year-by-year

2014/15 - 37

2015/16 - 53

2016/17 - 99

2017/18 - 119

2018/19 - 177


2014/15 - 3,700

2015/16 - 5,200

2016/17 - 6,570

2017/18 - 8,650

2018/19 - 10,960

What the police say

Gloucestershire Constabulary Chief Inspector Tim Wood said: "Our understanding of gangs has matured considerably over the past few years and our focus now is on tackling child exploitation.

"We work very closely with a range of partners to safeguard children who may be vulnerable to exploitation, and through prevention schemes such as Gloucestershire's Action on Aces partnership, the Aston Project and Schoolbeat.

"We are also identifying children through missing person reports and working closely with partners to safeguard them."

'Real concern'

Director of policy and research at The Children’s Society Sam Royston said: “The significant increase in children at risk of gang involvement and trafficking are of real concern.

“We see through our frontline work the devastating impact on children who are groomed and exploited to traffic drugs in county lines operations and the threats, violence and sexual abuse they are subjected to.

“Any child in any community can be at risk, but criminals deliberately target some groups of vulnerable children, including those in care, those excluded from mainstream school, and those with learning difficulties.

“But the response by police and councils is too often haphazard and inconsistent.

“This hasn’t been helped by years of funding cuts which have left councils struggling to provide vital early support to at-risk children and their families, meaning the challenges they are facing are more likely to escalate and put them in danger.

“Even when children are sadly trapped in the cycle of exploitation too many do not get the help they need and end up being criminalised rather than supported as victims.

“These figures should act as a wake-up call to all political parties.”