In 2022, the lives of four families in Liverpool were shattered by gun crime, prompting a new targeted response to tackle serious and organised crime.
On August 16, 22-year-old Sam Rimmer was shot in Dingle and passed away a short time after.
Five days later, 28-year-old Ashley Dale was killed in Old Swan and the following day nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was fatally shot in Dovecot.
Ashley and Olivia were in their own homes – places that should have been safest.
Later that year, on Christmas Eve, 26-year old Elle Edwards was murdered outside the Lighthouse Pub in Wallasey when a gunman opened fire.
The tragic murders of these innocent people led to Merseyside Police being given funding by the Home Office to begin a Clear, Hold, Build operation, known locally as EVOLVE, designed to reclaim areas worst affected by serious and organised crime and rebuild safer, stronger communities.
It offers a holistic approach combining enforcement with long-term prevention.
Delivered in partnership with other agencies it aims to tackle criminality and its underlying causes.
Merseyside was one of the first forces in the UK to implement this model, ahead of its national rollout in January 2023.
Merseyside now has four Clear, Hold, Build projects that see police and partners working together to build better futures for all:
EVOLVE Liverpool-Knowsley (launched August 2022)
EVOLVE Wirral (launched December 2022, following the murder of Elle Edwards)
EVOLVE Netherton (launched January 2023)
EVOLVE Everton-Vauxhall (launched January 2025)
Each phase has a distinct purpose. Clear focuses on disrupting and removing criminals from communities, Hold aims to stabilize the area and prevent the return of criminal activity, and Build works to strengthen communities and reduce vulnerability to crime.
Since the launch of the first Clear and Hold phases following Sam, Ashley and Olivia’s murders in August 2022, the impact has been substantial.
Across the four EVOLVE areas there have been:
- More than 5,300 arrests
- Around 630kg of Class A and B drugs seized with an estimated street value of several million pounds
- Around £2.5 million seized in cash and assets – this is being reinvested into communities via participatory budget events and other schemes
- More than 260 offensive weapons and 28 firearms seized
- Hundreds of warrants executed
- More than 6,500 stop-searches carried out
- More than 440 vulnerable people safeguarded
- Some offenders have been sentenced to a total of more than 700 years in prison
- Community intelligence has increased by more than 300% across the four sites equating to thousands of reports
- All crime has fallen across each of the areas (stats for EVOLVE Everton-Vauxhall will be available after 12 months). In EVOLVE Netherton it has fallen by 32%, EVOLVE Wirral it has fallen by 10% and EVOLVE Liverpool-Knowsley it has fallen by 11%
- ASB has fallen across each of the areas. In EVOLVE Netherton it has fallen by 74%, EVOLVE Wirral it has fallen by 34% and EVOLVE Liverpool-Knowsley it has fallen by 5%
- Knife crime (section 18 stabbings) has also fallen across each of the areas. In EVOLVE Netherton it has fallen by 14% EVOLVE Wirral it has fallen by 66% and EVOLVE Liverpool-Knowsley it has fallen by 12.5%
