County revealed to have highest knife crime rate outside capital
WEST YORKSHIRE had the highest rate of knife and sharp incident crime outside London last year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
There were 4,496 knife and sharp incident offences in Yorkshire and the Humber for the year ending September 2018, 60 per cent (2,717) of which took place in West Yorkshire.
Despite an initial decrease in knife crime in West Yorkshire between 2010 and 2013, there has since been a rise every year with a total increase of 124 per cent from 2012-13 to 2017-18.
In West Yorkshire, the rate of offences per 100,000 people in the latest figures was 117.77.
Talking about how the police in are tackling this issue, Detective Superintendent Chris Gibson, West Yorkshire Police’s Knife Crime Lead said: “We are doing everything we can to tackle knife violence – the consequences of which can be horrific – for victims injured or killed, for families caught up in it and for the wider community.
“Our message is simple: Carrying a knife is never the answer and by carrying a knife you are much more likely to get stabbed yourself. We are concerned about knife crime and the impact it can have on the communities we serve and we are working tirelessly with our partners to prevent it from happening.
“This ongoing work included an event last week where schoolchildren from across Leeds heard first-hand accounts of the dangers of carrying a knife. Students were also shown some of the basics of crime scene investigation work and some first aid skills.
“We have also held weapons surrenders and educational programmes to warn young people in particular about knife crime.”
The Leeds Lives Not Knives event mentioned took place on February 27 and was organised by the force to show secondary school children the reality of knife crime and the consequences carrying a blade can bring. Leeds social enterprise group Life Experience told the children how knife crime had affected their lives.