‘Hollow words’ as region suffers 14 knife crimes every day
THERE have been 14 knife crimes every day on the streets of the West Midlands this year, figures reveal.
West Midlands Police force said it had logged 22,825 crimes involving a knife or sharp instrument in the past five years – and 4,081 in 2019 so far.
The force provided the statistics in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Liberal Democrats, who have called the situation a “national emergency” and called for more powers for the police.
Official figures published earlier this year showed West Midlands Police recorded 3,428 knife crimes in the 2018-19 financial year.
This was the highest since comparable records began in 2010-11 – but the new statistics show that the crime rate is still increasing.
So far this year, 2,100 knife crimes have been recorded in Birmingham, with 476 in Coventry and 285 in Dudley. There were 183 in Solihull and 389 in Sandwell borough. Another 358 were recorded in Wolverhampton.
The weapon most commonly used was a simple kitchen knife.
Horrific “zombie knives” were involved in 23 offences across the West Midlands force area so far this year. Another 49 offences involved razor blades, 84 involved flick knives and 12 involved weapons identified by police as daggers.
Liberal Democrat campaigner Ian Jenkins said: “The West Midlands is in the grip of a knife-crime epidemic.
“Knife crime is now a national emergency – how long must we wait for the fightback to begin? Tragically, week after week we hear about another young person who was stabbed on our streets.
“Yet again a family will mourn. Yet again ministers will offer hollow words. I’m sick and tired of more hollow words, we need concrete actions.” It comes after the Government announced that West Midlands Police will receive funding to recruit 366 additional police officers.
Recruitment will begin next year, funded with a share of £750 million allocated to police forces cross the country.
It is the first stage of a recruitment drive over three years. A total of 590 officers will be recruited across the wider West Midlands region, including 90 for Staffordshire, 41 for Warwickshire and 93 for West Mercia.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “This means the people of the West Midlands will benefit from having nearly 600 more officers.”