Assistant commissioner Mark Rowley has issued a warning to police officers that individuals "vulnerable to joining a gang can be as attracted to joining a terrorist cause.
"We are seeing this happen again and again with many of today's terrorists being yesterday's street criminals," said Rowley.
"When gangs and extremists come together, there are potentially grave consequences, especially when you consider some of these gangs have access to firearms."
The British government and intelligence agency MI5 estimate that around 600 young men and women have traveled from the UK to Syria to join Islamic State militants — whilst around 300 have returned radicalized. Their motive for traveling there in the first place is still relatively unknown.
@OpticalBuddy UK has huge problems with violent, criminal street gangs luring youth — ISIS holds same attraction for disenfranchised
— yvonneridley (@yvonneridley) January 19, 2015
In a recent interview for Sputnik, Jonathan Birdwell, a specialist on radicalization and Islam at UK think tank Demos, said that the young people who wish to join Islamic militants are fighting for recognition and status.
"They get to wear a balaclava and clutch a Kalashnikov and post a picture of themselves in Syria on social media saying 'look at me, I'm a badass', which gives them a status they would never have achieved in the UK."
London's Metropolitan Police estimate there to be around 250 gangs operating in London with almost 5,000 members responsible for 50 percent of all gun crime in the capital. However, the number of gang members, according to frontline charity Gangsline is more like 10,000.
According to Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, youngsters vulnerable to recruitment by extremists are the same young people involved in street gangs and "loosely affiliated groups of misfits, dropouts and criminals."
"You have violent young people who are lost and with the wrong group and we are seeing evidence that some are being drawn into terrorism."
Meanwhile, the government has been accused of not having a handle on the level of gang activity across towns and cities in Britain. A recent report 'Dying to Belong' said:
"[The] government has failed to stem the tide of gangs. The lack of leadership shown by central and local government has meant that Britain has failed to understand and act on the growing problem of street gangs. In many areas, the task of tackling gangs has been seen as almost solely the responsibility of the police by politicians who have made enforcement their main focus and taken an increasingly punitive stance."
The possible consequence of a lack of understanding by the British government and the police on the growing problem of street gangs could, if Rowley is right, be one of the reasons behind the motive for so many young British men and women to travel to Syria.
The warning about today's terrorists being yesterday's gang members comes as the UK threat level remains at severe level and police officers are being told to be extra vigilant, as well as take more security precautions in public. Off-duty officers have also been advised not to reveal their occupation to anyone.
