Thugs who glamorise gun and knife violence on YouTube will be treated as TERRORISTS as police get new powers to quell murder tide in London

Thugs who glamorise gun and knife violence on YouTube will be treated as TERRORISTS as police get new powers to quell murder tide in London

• The Met Police has blamed ‘drill’ music for London’s increasing murder rate
• Commander Jim Stokley said gang members will be dealt as terror suspects 
• Police are planning to use existing legislation to clamp down on violent music
• If the plan fails, senior officers may ask government for new legislation  

Gang members suspected of inciting violent feuds on social media are to be treated like terror suspects, it was claimed last night.

Police will use new powers to target gangsters who promote violence in videos shared on websites such as YouTube.

Scotland Yard has blamed social media for the rising murder rate in London, singling out the ‘drill’ genre of rap music for glamorising violent crime.

Commander Jim Stokley, who leads the Met’s response to gang crime, told The Times new measures would make it easier for detectives to pursue suspects.

Currently, officers have to prove that videos and social media posts are directly linked to individual acts of violence to secure a conviction for incitement.

But the Terrorism Act allows suspects to be convicted even if videos or posts are not linked to specific violent acts. Mr Stokley said that for gangs ‘there isn’t specific legislation and clearly we can’t use terror legislation [but] in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, we have found some existing legislation which we are going to use.’

Story from the www.dailymail.co.uk