Interactive map shows how London’s youth gangs claim their territory

Crime mapping is the latest tool to allow the public to gauge how police forces are performing. However, a different type of criminal map has been produced that highlights the scale of the problem that youth gangs pose to the police.

The 14 interactive maps show how gangs with names such as the Gilpin Money Gang, Highbury Hoodstarz and the Ghetto Diplomats claim their “territory” across London.

Compiled by an anonymous group of people who grew up in areas plagued by gangs, it details more than 100 gangs in the city. It shows gang activity in virtually every pocket of Inner London, from Islington in the north to Acton in the west and Tulse Hill in the south.

A member of the group, who would be named only as “SouljahD” and answered questions by e-mail, said that the information was accurate and had been compiled by current and former gang members and their associates. The group also uses information from social networking sites.

SouljahD said that knife crime statistics were likely to underplay the true extent of the problem, with many incidents never reported to the police.

“People have a fixed psyche as to what they envision of a gang,” said SouljahD. “Most people often conjure up very negative images and forget some of the positive aspects of what it means to be part of a gang. We have to remember that these groups, menacing or not, are just kids — many of them vulnerable young kids.”

SouljahD claimed that organisations including educational establishments and probation officers used the website. The compilers maintain that their information is more accurate than that held by the police. “Strangely, though, we have never been approached by the Metropolitan Police for information.”