The presenter discovers how armed officers are dealing with the rising tide of shootings in UK cities, meeting gang members
Ross Kemp has spoken to the armed and dangerous in war zones around the world.
But, in this one-off documentary, he investigates the rising level of gun crime in the UK.
Joining West Midlands Armed Police Force for a year, Ross, whose father was a police inspector, dons his bulletproof vest to find out why gun crime rose by 20 per cent last year.
'The level of violence is truly shocking,' says Ross.
'We haven’t got the gun issues some other countries have because of our strict laws.'
'But I spoke to a gun dealer smuggling handguns and he didn’t care where the weapons ended up.'
'They wind up in the hands of kids in gangs who have less of an understanding of the repercussions of their actions.'
Along the way he meets gang members, a gun smuggler and the mother of a teenager shot dead.
He also finds that although extra armed police were brought in to tackle terrorism, they’re now dealing with teenage gangs fighting over drugs and territory.
TV Times rating: *****
