CHURCH LEADERS MEET TO TACKLE CITY'S CRIME

More than two hundred church leaders from across Birmingham will meet
police and council chiefs this week to tackle the problems of drugs,
guns and gangs on the city's streets.

The gathering, at Aston Villa Conference Suite on Wednesday, will
begin with keynote speeches from the Rt Rev Dr John Sentamu, Bishop
for Birmingham, Lin Homer, chief executive of Birmingham City Council,
and Paul Scott Lee, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.

Rev Carver Anderson, of the Council of Black Led Churches, one of the
organisations which arranged the event, said that although the issues
of drugs, gun crime and gangs were mainly visible in certain areas of
the city, their causes and effects were felt all over Birmingham.

"The gathering of church leaders will seek to develop a Christian
response to these issues, recognising the special part that churches
have to play in local communities, both as focal points at times of
tragedy, but more importantly as catalysts of change before tragedy
strikes," he said.

Rev Mark Fisher, of Birmingham Churches Together, said: "The churches
are taking the lead in saying to the whole of Birmingham that we all
need to play a part in the solution to these city-wide issues. Gun
crime and gang-related activities are the illegitimate children of
drug selling and drug taking.

"It is not good enough for society as a whole to bemoan the situation
and wash their hands of it. We need to tackle these issues head on
with long term solutions that do more than move the problem on to
another street, but instead eradicate them entirely."

The event is supported by Birmingham City Council, Advantage West
Midlands, Birmingham Drug Action Team and Birmingham Community Safety
Partnership.