Cops' gang fight is on streets but war's just begun

AMAZING; cops using intelligence. Instead of hoarding information in dusty files and computer banks, Chief Constable Steve House actually sent some lads around to sort out suspected gang leaders.

And did they do it in style with riot gear and battering rams.

No namby-pamby football projects or wheeling out a mobile control room for the neds to case; direct action at the blunt end of a steel ram.

It must have been good to see the faces of the (alleged) thugs as their front doors collapsed and a bunch of armoured invaders exploded into their homes.

The words tables' and turned' spring to mind.

Yet I have misgivings, not at the long-overdue assault on Glasgow's gang culture, but what comes next.

Sure the cops have rounded up suspects, carried out interviews and maybe even charged a few bad guys.

In the normal course, there will be reports to the procurator fiscal, court appearances and not guilty pleas.

Several months down the line alleged gang members will, possibly, face trial on charges that have been watered down to save expense and before we know it they'll be back on the streets, thumbing their noses at social workers on community service or paying off fines at pennies a week.

And gang warfare will take up pretty much where it left off.

Mr House has set up the Gangs Task Force, experienced cops who don't scare at a bunch of neds, and it's got off to a cracking start.

What happens next depends, in part, on Glasgow procurator fiscal, Catherine Dyer.

First off, Ms Dyer would do well to consider public opinion and confidence; so hand all of the cases to a single fiscal - and not some wet behind the ears junior or switched-off time-server.

Put the neds into the hands of a senior, experienced fiscal, someone with a CV steeped in blood and mayhem who is given time to build cases.

The bureaucrats who run the Scottish Courts Service can play a part.

Let's have Glasgow Gangs Week down at the Sheriff Court. Rattle the cases through a single court, sitting into the evening and lasting as long as it takes.

Conveyor belt justice, lumping neds together and dealing with them.

Finally, the accused deserve a fair trial, which means they deserve a Sheriff or judge to match.

Someone whose decisions are rarely questioned; fair, tough and brave enough to understand a sentencing guideline' is a rule of thumb rather than a line that dare not be crossed.

Mr House has taken the battle against gangs onto the streets, into the housing schemes and straight through the front doors of violent thugs.

The raids were the first, successful, attempt to tackle Glasgow's gang culture head-on and a sign that Mr House intends delivering.

But he is not waging a one-man war.

Churning out prison fodder is nowhere as exciting as battering down doors but is every bit as vital.

Glasgow's legal bureaucracy has a place on the frontline...right alongside the Chief Constable.