Knife crime offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales have risen in recent years, but remain below levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here the PA news agency looks at the latest available figures on knife crime.
– How many offences are being recorded?
Some 50,973 offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the 12 months to June 2024.
This is up 4% from 49,187 offences in the previous 12 months, but is 2% lower than the 51,982 offences in the year to March 2020.
These figures do not include Greater Manchester Police, due to issues involving the processing of data.
– What are the figures for different types of violent knife crime?
There has been a “notable increase” in the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which compiled the figures.
These jumped from 19,607 in the year to June 2023 to 21,759 in the year to June 2024, a rise of 11%, though the total is still lower than before the pandemic, with 22,727 recorded in 2019/20.
Knife-enabled homicides stood at 225 in the 12 months to June 2024, down 5% from 237 in the previous year and lower than pre-pandemic figures (253 in 2019/20).
The number of offences classed as knife-enabled threats to kill have also fallen, down 6% from 5,736 in the year to June 2023 to 5,413 in the year to June 2024.
Both of these totals are higher than those recorded before the pandemic (4,746 in 2019/20).
(PA Graphics)
– What are the figures for possession of knives?
The number of offences classed as “possession of an article with a blade or point” stood at 27,553 offences in the 12 months to June 2024, down 4% year on year from 28,582.
“This follows substantial increases in recent years, which may have been influenced by targeted police action to tackle knife crime,” the ONS said.
Police-recorded offences of possession of an article with a blade or point were 18% higher in the year to June 2024 than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019/20 (23,265), and nearly double the figure for 2016/17 (14,450).
– How do the figures break down by force?
Of the 50,973 knife crime offences in England and Wales in the year to June 2024, 31% (15,802) were recorded by the Metropolitan Police, 10% (5,122) by West Midlands Police and 5% (2,334) by West Yorkshire Police.
When looking at the number of offences per population, the Metropolitan Police had the highest rate, with 178 per 100,000 people, but only slightly ahead of West Midlands Police (173 per 100,000), followed by Cleveland Police (140 per 100,000) and South Yorkshire Police (107 per 100,000).
Of the 42 forces (including British Transport Police) for which figures are available, 19 saw a year-on-year increase in knife crime offences in the 12 months to June 2024.
The largest percentage increases were recorded by Avon & Somerset (up 31.8%), British Transport Police (up 30.6%), Bedfordshire (up 21.5%) and Sussex (up 16.8%).
City of London Police saw a jump of 39.0%, but this was based on a very low number of offences (41 in the year ending June 2023, 57 in the year to June 2024).
Suffolk recorded the largest percentage drop (down 37.5%), followed by Gloucestershire (down 33.0%), Hampshire (down 20.9%) and Kent (down 19.9%)