The Met Police has assured Londoners it is working hard to stamp out violent crime in the capital as concerns are raised about the rise of stabbings and shootings.

The Violent Crime Task Force set up by the Met will be composed of full-time officers who will be specially selected.

It will focus entirely on violent crime on London's streets, including crime involving weapons and "serious criminality."

Officers will be both uniformed and "highly visible" when on patrol. A statement from Scotland Yard said the team will "use a full range of tactics to identify, target and arrest offenders."

It continued: "These will include covert and overt tactics specifically targeting street level offenders as well as those who feed criminality."

The initiative will be supported by other officers, important figures in the community and the Trident Area and Crime Command, an initiative set up by the Met in 1998 to combat gun violence in the capital.

As a surge of gun and knife crimes raise questions about safety on the streets of London, the Met has said its approach will deliver "a sustained and targeted approach to stopping and solving murders and knife crimes."

The Violent Crime Task Force is part of a wider plan to combat violent crime which announced by Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Sunday morning.

The Home Office has also announced an extra £3 million cash injection for Police chiefs across the country to crack down on knife violence.

It is hoped the money, awarded by the Home Office's Police Transformation Fund to the College of Policing, will help forces across the country understand the early causes of violence in communities.

Focusing primarily on criminal exploitation of children and gang violence, the findings from the evidence compiled will be used to set national standards for policing of crime of this nature.

Mike Cunningham, chief executive of the College of Policing, said: "The devastating impact of violent crime on communities cannot be underestimated, and sadly we all saw the tragic consequences of such offences in London last week.

"It is only by close working between police, partners and the public that we will be able to tackle these kinds of violent offences.

"When people are in crisis, police officers are often the first to respond, spotting where young people need help and where criminals need targeting.

"Building the evidence base into what works to tackle this issue will support them and help to protect the public."

The Government has been under pressure to take action on violent crime in the UK after a bloody week on the streets of London last week, which saw two teenagers shot dead within miles of each other.