Rise in knife crime leads to rethink on stop and search

‘Unacceptable’ statistics reveal nearly 40,000 offences last year – an increase of 22 per cent

KNIFE crime soared by almost a quarter last year amid warnings that the reduction in stop-and-search is fuelling violence on the streets.

According to the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), police recorded just under 40,000 offences involving a knife in the year ending December 2017 – up 22 per cent on the previous year.

A spate of knife murders – especially across the capital – in recent months has led to calls for a rethink on the approach to the controversial stop-andsearch powers given to the police.

Criticism that the policy was being used disproportionately against young black men led Theresa May to introduced reforms in 2014 in a bid to ensure stop-and-search was used in a more targeted way.

The new rules meant police officers only had stop-and-search powers if they had “reasonable grounds” to suspect someone carried illegal drugs, a weapon, stolen property or something that could be used to commit a crime.

But many front-line officers have expressed concern about the policy, which some claim leaves them fearful of being accused of being racist.

In 2016-17, there were 303,845 stopand-searches by police in England and Wales, a fall of 21 per cent compared with the previous 12 months.

Last year, the number of murders involving a bladed weapon rose by 26 per cent across the country – with London’s overall murder rate rocketing by 44 per cent to 157.

Earlier this week, the family of a model law student, stabbed to death outside his home in east London, blamed his killing on the failure of the police and the Government to tackle the knife crime epidemic.

The parents of Sami Sidhorn, 18, said: “It is shameful that a single knife is allowed on the street. There isn’t a single fathomable reason why this is still tolerated, unchecked and unstopped.”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said: “These statistics show once again that crime, and violent crime in particular, is rising at an unacceptably high rate. This is clearly a national problem that requires national solutions from the Government.”

Violent crime in general has increased in the last year, up 20.5 per cent with the police recording more than 1.3 million offences in the year ending December 2017. Over half a million of these were offences for violence with injury. Offences involving firearms were also up, by 11 per cent to 6,604 offences with murders involving guns also up 11 per cent.

Elsewhere in the figures, violence against the person was up a fifth on 2016 and recorded burglary was up 9 per cent, while robbery saw a sharp

‘[No] single fathomable reason why it [knives on the street] is still tolerated, unchecked and unstopped’

rise, up 33 per cent, year on year.

Nick Hurd, the police minister, said: “It is clear that overall levels of crime are stable, with traditional crime over a third lower than it was in 2010.

“But we know that some of the increase in police-recorded violent offences is genuine, which is why we have taken urgent action to stop these crimes. We will be announcing tough new laws to crack down on acid attacks and knife offences.”

♦ Statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that there were 8,429 attacks last year on prison staff, up 23 per cent on the previous year, with almost 900 classed as “serious”.

Meanwhile, analysis by the Howard League for Penal Reform suggested that a total of 359,081 days – almost 984 years – of additional imprisonment were imposed on inmates in 2017 for breaking rules. Frances Crook, its chief executive, said it was “a symptom of a prison system in crisis”.