Campaign launched as figures reveal growing horror of Shropshire knife crime
It is a crime associated with big cities – knives carried as a badge of honour by gangs increasingly being used in violent attacks.
Six of the eight victims killed in a current crimewave across the urban West Midlands were in their 20s – and some of the suspects in the cases are under the age of 18.
But today figures released by West Mercia Police show that the national rise in knife possession and violent attacks is also reflected in Shropshire.
Officers are so concerned that they are launching a new campaign in which young people will be urged to hand in their knives at stations.
They fear the trend of carrying knives is spreading among young people as figures reveal that cases reported by police in the last year even include children as young as five.
Figures obtained by the Shropshire Star through a Freedom of Information request show that there were 147 knife-related crimes reported in our county between January and July this year. Of those, 16 involved children under the age of 13.
Since January 2010, there have been more than 1,700 reports of knife crime in Shropshire. And while the annual figure was 172 in 2013, it is likely to touch 300 for the whole of 2017.
Last year in Shropshire 18 of the knife crimes were children under the age of 13, which is double the amount in 2015.
In 2014 there were no knife crimes in which the suspect or offender was under 13.
The figures also show that the majority of cases of knife-related crime in Shropshire happen in Telford.
Since 2010, there have been 53 knife-related crimes in the county where the suspect or offender was under the age of 13, and 35 of those incidents were in Telford.
West Mercia Police Chief Superintendent Charles Hill admits rising knife crime figures can be alarming to the public but that they should be considered in context.
He said: “We acknowledge, in line with national data, there has been an increase in reported knife crime in the county and we understand the concern this may cause to local people. Almost half of incidents in 2016/17 were personal disputes where offenders and victims were known to each other, often in a domestic setting or part of a drug-related dispute.
“The chances of falling victim to a knife crime at the hands of a stranger in the street are still small.”
Supt Hill added that statistics have shown that those who carry a knife are more likely to be assaulted.
He said: “Anyone who thinks that carrying a knife will make them safer needs to think again. Statistics show us that those who carry a knife are more likely to be assaulted.
“In September, we will be running another campaign aimed at tackling knife crime and raising awareness of the dangers and consequences of carrying knives. This will include a knife surrender that will give people the opportunity to surrender knives at police stations in Shropshire and Telford.
“As part of this campaign we are also carrying out an analysis of knife crime in the county that will allow us to identify problem areas and target them with increased police activity and we will work with our partners to address problem areas and educate people about the dangers of carrying knives.
“Officers continue to use our stop and search powers to target those people who carry knives and arrest offenders.
“We ask the public to let us know of any concerns they may have or information about people carrying knives so that we can address this behaviour.”
One man not surprised by today’s statistics is Clive Knowles, whose British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry has created the Knife Angel sculpture from weapons confiscated by police forces from around the country.
He says he wants to continue his work in promoting knife amnesties, aiming to get 250,000 weapons off the streets.
He said: “We’ve got a national crisis, we need to reverse this national blight that we’ve got.
“All over Europe is dealing with the same problem, Britain shouldn’t be embarrassed about it.”
