Police deal with 19 knife crimes a week
POLICE forces across the North East are now dealing with 19 knife crimes every week.
Official figures show the region’s three forces, Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland, recorded 999 incidents involving a knife or sharp instrument in the 12 months up to September 2018.
That included 428 in Cleveland, 273 in County Durham and 298 in Northumbria.
The number of offences has increased significantly since 2010, when there were 768 similar offences. At the same time, the number of police officers in the region has fallen.
Home Office figures show the three forces had 7,418 officers between them in March 2010, which fell to 5,506 by September 2018.
The Government insists it is giving police more money than ever before, but Labour MPs say forces are starved of resources.
Forces across the country will this year receive the first increase in central government funding since 2010. It follows years of cuts and freezes, which are effectively cuts once inflation is taken into account.
And Police and Crime Commissioners are being encouraged to impose above-inflation increases in the council tax police precept of £24 for a band D household.
The Home Office is to increase funding for Northumbria Police from £222.6m to £227.1m. It will increase funding for Durham Constabulary from £84.7m to £86.3m.
Forces will also get a share of £143m nationwide to go towards increased pension contributions.
According to the Home Office, if Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) impose the full £24-a-year increase in the police precept, Durham Police will have a total funding increase of £7.5m next year, while Northumbria will have an increase of £18m. Cleveland will have an There were 999 knife incidents in the year to September 2018
increase of £7.2m.
North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones said the Government was effectively forcing PCCs to increase taxes. And he warned that making police more dependent on council tax precepts would mean there was less money for policing in poorer areas. This is because properties are placed in “bands” depending on their value, so the tax charged on a relatively low-value home is lower than the tax for an expensive home.
He said: “The Home Secretary said that police and crime commissioners’ flexibility to increase costs for band D properties will generate £24 per household, but the average in Durham will be £16.
“The move away from national funding to an increased reliance on the precept, putting the onus on local tax payers, is not only unfair, but will not raise the same amount of money. Whereas Surrey will benefit from a large increase, deprived communities such as Durham will not be able to raise the same amount.”
The MP said PCCs “frankly have no choice” but to increase the precept. “If PCCs do not raise the precept, they will, in most cases, have to make even deeper cuts, leading to parts of certain areas not being policed at all.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the police were now receiving funding increases, and police officer numbers were rising.
He told MPs: “The settlement provides the biggest increase in police funding since 2010, up to an extra £970m in 2019-20.”
He said police nationwide received a £460m increase in funding last year once increases in council tax were included.
“The latest workforce figures show that, by September 2018, this was starting to pay off, with officer numbers up by 466 in that year.”
Superintendent Barrie Joisce, of Northumbria Police, said: “We remain committed to cutting crime and protecting the communities we serve. Our officers work hard every day to investigate crimes and catch criminals who use guns and knives.
“We will continue to proactively target offenders and bring them to justice. Numbers don’t ever tell the whole story and I would ask that the public don’t just look at the overall increase in recorded crime.
“Recorded crime has been rising for a number of years now but that does not mean our region is less safe than it has been in the past.
“What these figures do show is that residents in our Force area are the least likely in the entire country to be victims of household crime, including burglary.
“These figures also highlight the continued confidence the public have in contacting police to report crimes.”
Cleveland Police’s Local Policing Commander (North) Superintendent Alison Jackson said: “There will always be a minority of people who flout the law but we make every effort to bring those offenders to justice.
“Our focus is on taking a proactive approach to protecting our communities from harm and we will take a robust approach to the offence of possession of a knife in conjunction with our colleagues from the Crown Prosecution Service and in accordance with Home Office guidelines.”