Videos of drill music, which can include lyrics describing acts of violence and recent attacks, are being used by the unit to monitor young people.
Det Insp McKeown said: “Certain gangs in our areas wear different colour bandanas – some of those groups are really talented, and will put out music videos like drill.”
“So they’ll be talking about a recent child that’s been murdered, and that in itself can raise tensions within a community,” she said.
“Twenty years ago we wouldn’t be looking at Youtube to monitor our local gangs – but now a five minute video could tell you more than a whole ten hours walking on the street and trying to speak to be people.”
In Greater Manchester, 44 in every 100,000 young people under 25 were affected by knife crime, according to police data.
The unit has used the information on the videos to work out which gangs are in conflict with each other, but the supply of knives is another problem.
“The majority of knives my people get are from online,” Det Insp McKeown said, adding they were “pretty much legal”.
Those taken off the street are “a fraction of what is really out there”, she added.
Her task force has also found some local shops 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 were successful.
“I was shocked,” Det Insp McKeown said.
