Police demand anonymity for gun crime witnesses
Ministers must change the law to guarantee witnesses of gun crime anonymity, senior police officers have said.
The police are concerned many witnesses to serious crime are not coming forward to give evidence due to a fear of reprisals.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is now lobbying the government to change the law to guarantee witnesses anonymity as soon as they make a police statement and before a suspect is charged.
At present, prosecutors must make an application to a judge to protect a witness’s identity and only when a case reaches court.
Police argue this risks compromising the reporting of crime and argue witnesses need a guarantee they will not be identified for coming forward.
The Ministry of Justice said it will look “very seriously” at the proposal, stressing it was open to any ideas that could encourage witnesses to come forward.
A spokesperson said: “We have taken action to improve support for witnesses including introduction of witness care units and Special Measures in court for intimidated and vulnerable witnesses, which are resulting in increased witness attendance at court and the number of offences brought to justice.”
Officers investigating the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool have complained potential witnesses are reluctant to come forward.
The issue will be discussed at the Acpo conference on the criminal use of firearms, beginning in Birmingham today.
Keith Bristow, Acpo spokesman on firearms and chief constable of Warwickshire Police, said: “The power of communities to assist us tackling this problem cannot be underestimated.
“My chief officer colleagues and I have been invited by the home secretary Jacqui Smith to undertake some urgent work building on recent successes to identify what additional progress we can make to work more effectively across all government agencies and with both statutory and non-statutory organisations, around tackling gang related gun crime and the supply of guns.”
Earlier this week, the prime minister said ministers were already examining measures to reduce gun crime, including greater powers for the police.
Gordon Brown said: “I think you’ll see in these communities over the next few months, very deliberate, intensive action and I hope that people in these communities appreciate that is in the interest of cutting the supply of guns, stopping the circulation – particularly among young people – and stopping what is the most deadliest of crimes that in the last few weeks shocked the nation by taking away a young and wholly innocent life.”
