Camden recruits ex-LA gang member to cut violence in London

A former member of a notorious Los Angeles gang has been enlisted to help reduce teenage violence in London. He has the credibility to engage kids and communicate with them, believes Camden council.

Nakuja Guyan has been recruited by Camden council to work with young people in the borough. In the late Eighties and early Nineties he was a member of the Bloods and saw many friends killed or jailed. The 40-year-old, who was shot at and stabbed, speaks to teenagers on the street who have been identified by police as potential troublemakers.

Mr Guyan, who moved to Britain six years ago, works alongside youth worker Scott Fry in the council's Youth Disorder Engagement Team encouraging gang members to consider education, courses and legal employment as an alternative. He said: "We are trying to get these young people involved in something constructive rather than what they are doing. That is the primary task - giving these young people a signpost to stop them from doing what they are doing."

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