‘Get fit and run away’ to avoid knife attacks

A SENIOR police officer has said the best way to deal with a knife attacker is to “run away as fast you can”, after a Tory MP suggested youngsters should learn martial arts to defend themselves.

Sir Christopher Chope said youngsters who got fit and learnt judo or tae kwondo would be better able to deal with a knife attack. But Dave Thompson, the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, warned against relying on unarmed combat, and insisted that the best advice was always to run away.

Mr Thompson was appearing at the home affairs select committee, alongside Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to answer questions from MPS on violent crime.

They both said the current knife crime epidemic was the worst it had been in their long careers.

Sir Christopher, who is a member of the committee, said: “One of the ways people can be prepared is by doing judo or tae kwondo, being physically able and taught how to deal with a situation when you are threatened with a knife.”

Mr Thompson replied: “The best knife prevention technique is to run away as fast as you can,” to which Sir Christopher responded: “But you need to be fit to do that.”

Mr Thompson added: “I think people have got to run away. I would probably not advocate a strategy of increasing combat readiness through martial arts generally, but there is some attraction in those sports … and they take young men off the streets.”

Earlier this month Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, announced an extra £100 million to help tackle knife crime.

But Ms Dick said the extra funds were not enough and urged ministers to “step up”.

She said tackling violence was the number one priority for everyone in the Met, but there was too little co-ordination, not enough focus by government departments, and the £100 million was a “relatively small” amount.

“If you look at the stabbings of young people, I think this is a new and worrying and tragic phenomenon,” she said. “The last couple of years have seen the highest and most worrying levels [of knife crime] in my service.

“There has been a massive amount of attention from the media and undoubtedly some really tragic cases, and everyone in the country is more focused on this. The Home Secretary has shown a considerable amount of leadership. However, what we are not seeing yet is real cross-government actions being delivered in a meaningful way on the ground in our communities.”

Ms Dick said that while government departments were stretched and were focused on other issues such as Brexit, it was vital they “stepped up” and came together to help drive down the scourge of serious violence. She said: “It needs to be a higher priority.”