Out on the 'microbeats' where police hope to reclaim London's streets from gangs

Crime has fallen in lockdown, and the Met has a new strategy to take back control. The Observer goes out with the 'violence suppression unit' in Croydon They are known as MBs - microbeats - small sections of London synonymous with drugs and violence. The scruffy strip of shops that lines London Road outside West Croydon station is the most notorious MB in the south London borough, itself one of the metropolis's most violent by far. Covid-19 brought a brief hiatus to Croydon's cycle of violence. ...