West Midlands has second highest level of knife offences while crime rate surges in Staffordshire

The latest official statistics show crime recorded by Staffordshire Police shot up by 22 per cent in the year to June – the largest rise for any police force in England and Wales not including British Transport Police.

There was an overall two per cent fall in crime recorded by West Midlands Police - although shoplifting offences rose 23 cent.

The force also reported the second highest level of knife crime in the country, behind only the Metropolitan Police.

There were 4,724 knife offences recorded by the force, a slight fall from 4,958 the previous year.

There were a total of 95,877 crimes recorded by Staffordshire Police in the year to June while West Midlands Police recorded 360,336 offences, according to the figures from the Office for National Statistics.

In Staffordshire, drug crime saw the biggest rise with 2,509 offences recorded in the year to June, more than double the previous year.

• There were more than 1,000 possession of weapon offences – an 81 per cent rise on the previous 12 months.

• Vehicle crime rose 34 per cent to 6,192 offences.

• Crimes involving violence with injury rose 24 per cent to 12,472 offences.

• Stalking and harassment offences increased 27 per cent in the same timeframe with 18,380 offences recorded in the year to June.

Of the crimes recorded by West Midlands Police in the year, there were falls in violent crimes, stalking and harassment, and sex offences, but crime rose in other areas.

• The biggest rise was in shoplifting offences, with 19,172 reports in the year to June – a 23 pre cent rise from the year before.

• There was a 13 per cent rise in vehicle crime, with almost 39,000 offences recorded.

• Possession of a weapon offences increased by seven per cent and drug offences rose four per cent.

West Midlands Police said in the last six months officers had arrested 25,527 suspects compared to 20,236 during the same period in 2022.

Two additional custody blocks have been opened to support the increased capacity in investigations and arrests meaning officers have less distance to travel to access custody facilities.

Deputy Chief Constable Scott Green said: “We introduced our new local policing operating model in April this year which heralded a totally new approach for West Midlands Police, focusing resources on things that matter most to our communities with more officers dedicated to working in local communities to prevent and solve crime.

“Since April, the force has seen significant reductions in crime including in the areas that have the most negative impact on people’s lives, including burglary and vehicle crime. Overall recorded crime has fallen by almost 10 per cent in the last six months compared to 2022 and August 2023 was the lowest month of recorded crime since April 2021, with a 14 per cent reduction.

“We have recorded a 10.3 per cent drop in vehicle crime – that’s 1,600 fewer victims - and almost tripled the amount of detections from 136 last year to 378 so far this year. There has been a 12.8 per cent reduction in thefts from people with 170 fewer victims and our detection rate is six times higher.

"We have also seen a nine per cent drop in youth violence with 400 fewer victims over the same period (April-September).

“Our Operation Guardian dedicated patrols in key areas for serious youth violence have also contributed to reduction in violence with injury.

"Knife crime and serious violence remains a top priority for the force. We understand the devastating impact these crimes have and we will continue to work to reduce offending and ultimately save lives.

"As part of this, April saw us sign up to be part of a national pilot which gives officers additional powers for tackling knife crime, including the introduction of serious violence reduction orders. These orders will help to tackle prolific, high-risk offenders, by making it easier for officers to search them for weapons.”

Across England and Wales, there were more than 5.5 million crimes recorded in the year to June – a rise of two per cent on the previous year.

Shoplifting offences recorded by police rose 25 per cent with some 365,164 offences recorded in the year to June.

In response to the figures, Staffordshire Police released a statement: "While our recorded crime figures in the latest ONS statistics are higher than the previous 12 months, this is in part due to work we have done to improve the speed of our processes, which means crimes are recorded more swiftly and victims can get the support services they need more quickly.

“We remain diligently focused on tackling all crimes within Staffordshire. In particular, we are investing significantly in protecting the most vulnerable through our Public Protection Unit and the services we provide to victims. In the last month (September), we arrested 61 people and charged 12 during a week of action to tackle violence, abuse and intimidation of women and girls.

“Key areas, like tackling vehicle crime, have led to a number of recent convictions, as long-running operations across Staffordshire have impact. We continue to focus on the priorities of our communities, including work to tackle anti-social behaviour.

“We are, too, seeing increasing positive outcomes since introducing our new community-focused local policing structure last year, with officers spending more time in local communities and dealing with the issues that matter most to local people. This includes tackling drugs and weapons, where our greater use of stop and search, and proactive operations, has contributed to an increase in cases and, importantly, arrests.

"Pleasingly, we have seen a reduction in knife crime compared to an increase nationally, and in the last week alone we have uncovered and destroyed more than 2,200 cannabis plants in a warehouse in Stoke – one of more than 100 cannabis farms broken up since the beginning of the year.

“While recorded robbery offences have increased by 3.4 per cent, this is far smaller than the increases forces nationally are recording. And we have seen a fall in recorded cases of ‘theft from the person’, with nearly a quarter fewer cases than those recorded pre-pandemic.

“Finally, although we have seen a significant increase in harassment cases, much of this relates to changes in our approach, whereby we are recording cases of harassment as crimes, rather than as anti-social behaviour, reflecting the significant distress and harm harassment can have on individuals.”