Police officers dealing with knife crime say watching drill videos posted on YouTube by local gangs is becoming an increasingly important part of their job.

Task Force Xcalibre was originally set up in 2004 by Greater Manchester Police to prevent gun crime, but has now focused on teenagers carrying knives.

Police figures show that in the 12 months between 2023 and 2024, more than 400 people under 25 were injured by knives, although the number was down compared to previous years.

Inspector Kat McKeown said many teenagers carried guns to show they were “not to be messed with”.

The task force was established in response to an infamous period in Manchester’s history when the city was nicknamed “Gunchester” due to the prevalence of gun ownership among gangs.

The unit’s work focuses on key areas of Trafford and south Manchester.

Xcalibre is now well known in these communities and has even been mentioned in exercise videos that officers use to gather intelligence.

“They will say that Xcal has been blocked due to the lockdown,” Det Insp McKeown said.

She said the unit’s profile led some youths in gangs to say they would only talk to Xcalibre officers.

“Their main need and what they want from the group is for them to be seen within their gangs and rival gangs as someone not to be messed with,” she told BBC Radio Manchester.

“And that they are not being hated in music.”

“Shocked”

The unit uses exercise music videos, which may include lyrics describing acts of violence and recent attacks, to monitor young people.

Det Insp McKeown said: “Some of the gangs in our areas wear different colored bandanas – some of these groups are really talented and will be posting videos like drills.”

“So they will be talking about the recent murder of a child, which in itself can create tensions in the community,” she said.

“Twenty years ago we wouldn’t go to YouTube to monitor our local gangs, but now a five-minute video can say more than a whole ten hours of walking down the street and trying to speak as human beings.”

According to Greater Manchester Police figures, 44 in 100,000 young people under 25 have been the victim of a knife crime.

The unit used information from the videos to determine which gangs were in conflict with each other, but the supply of knives was another problem.

“Most of the knives my guys get come from the internet,” Det Insp McKeown said, adding they were “fairly legal”.

Those removed from the street are “a fraction of what really exists,” she added.

Her task force also found that some local stores were selling knives to teenagers.

Two days after 17-year-old Prince Walker was fatally stabbed in Moss Sid in April, police sent 15-year-old cadets into shops to buy knives, and many of them were successful.

“I was shocked,” Inspector McKeown said.

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