Knife offences in West Midlands up by three quarters in four years
Knife offences in West Midlands have increased by nearly three quarters in the last four years, the latest figures show.
West Midlands Police investigated 2,850 offences involving a knife or a sharp weapon between April 2017 and March 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – a 72 per cent increase since 2013-14 and a 19 per cent rise over the last year.
It was a similar picture in Staffordshire, where the county's force probed 677 knife offences over the same period, a rise of 65 per cent in four years.
The figures come after a wave of fatal stabbings across the country, including four deaths in the West Midlands in the last month.
MORE COVERAGE:
The ONS says there are 98 knife offences per 100,000 people in West Midlands, higher than the national average of 69 per 100,000.
Nationally the most common offence involving a knife or sharp object was assault with intent to cause serious harm, followed by robbery.
Across England and Wales, the number of fatal stabbings hit the highest level since comparable records began, more than 70 years ago.
The chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Sarah Thornton, said emergency funding was needed to tackle rising knife crime, along with a boost to officer numbers.
“It needs some emergency funding. We need to have more officer hours on the streets," she said.
“We just haven't got the capacity, we just haven't got the officers at the moment so we need some money now to pay for overtime and to pay for mutual aid between forces."
Ms Thornton said tackling knife crime should also involve "local authorities, health, education, parents and families".
Across England and Wales, the number of police officers has dropped by almost 20,000 since 2010, with West Midlands Police seeing a fall in numbers of more than 2,000.
Staffordshire Police has lost more than 500 officers over the same period. The force had 1,605 officers in September last year, compared with 2,116 in September 2010.
