Cambridgeshire sees biggest fall in serious crime involving knives in the country

Cambridgeshire’s police commissioner has said he is doing all he can to ‘steer young people away’ from knife and other serious crime - as recorded serious offences involving knives dropped by 22 per cent.
Knife crimeKnife crime
Knife crime

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the number of serious offences involving knives in Cambridgeshire fell by 22 per cent in the year ending June 2019 - the biggest drop in the country. The second biggest drop was seen in Cheshire, where the fall was 12 per cent. Most other areas in the country saw a rise, with Bedfordshire, one of Cambridgeshire’s neighbours, seeing the biggest jump in the country, with a 57 per cent rise.

The statistics were for the number of times a knife was used in offences including murder, attempted murder, robbery, sexual offences, serious assaults and threats to kill.

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However, it did not include possession of a knife offences - which Cambridgeshire police said had risen by 9.8 per cent (August 2017/18 vs August 2018/19)

Overall, crime in Peterborough has fallen by 16 per cent over the past year, but has increased by two per cent across Cambridgeshire.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite said: “There are many reasons behind the reporting of different crime trends including a rise in confidence in people coming forward following targeted police activity. However, any increase in knife crime is something that concerns me.

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“It is important that people living in Peterborough recognise that we are not seeing the levels of knife crime reported in other areas of the country. Equally, knife crime cannot be tackled by policing alone. We all have a part to play in educating our young people as to how devastating carrying knives can be.

“We have already started work on a new project targeting those young people most at risk of becoming involved in knife crime with £385,000 worth of funding from the Home Office and I have the Chief Constable’s assurance that officers are working hard to catch offenders and talk to young people about the dangers of carrying knives.

“I am committed to doing everything I can to help steer young people away from serious crime.”