Knife crime

Report: 13
Date: 26 October 2006
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report informs the authority on its concern that the use of knives, highlighted by the death of Kiyan Prince, is increasing and seeks to explain why, in particular young people, are carrying knives.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. The recent national knife amnesty revealed that all manner of objects are carried in London as weapons. Surrendered weapons included flick knives, samurai swords, sharpened screwdrivers, stanley, combat and lock knives. Nevertheless, the most commonly surrendered were domestic type knives normally used in food preparation. Nationally the picture was similar, of some 90,000 knives surrendered the majority, around two thirds were domestic knives; the remainder were either non-domestic knives (hunting/fishing or craft knives) or manufactured offensive weapons (flick knives, bayonet’s etc).

2. In line with most police services the MPS does not maintain specific figures for the carriage and use of knives. Nevertheless, the search database shows that for the year 2004/05 a total 2,097 searches were conducted for knives and 675 (32%) were discovered. In 2005/06 officers conducted 3,082 searches for knives and this activity yielded 832 (27%) knives.

3. Surveys of young people suggest there are three reasons why they carry knives:

• For protection because they do not feel safe in their environment.
• For the kudos/power associated with carrying a weapon.
• To enable them to commit crime.

4. The MPS recently arranged for focus groups to be held involving young people between the ages of 14-17 years to pose the question ‘Why carry a knife’? The young people stated that they carried knives for protection:

• When they feel vulnerable.
• Because they believe that everyone else carries a knife or weapon.

5. The responses are consistent with the research where young people in particular claim that they carry knives for personal protection. Given that human beings tend to attribute righteous reasons for poor behaviour the rationale of carrying for personal protection in many instances is likely to be an excuse.

6. Anecdotal evidence from ‘Be Safe’ shows that young people make a sophisticated risk assessment as to when they are likely to require a knife. They might not take it to school (perceived to be a relatively safe environment) but would probably carry a knife if out and about after school (perceived to be an unsafe environment). The demographic group most likely to carry a knife is young men in the age range of 14-19 years. The sub group within this demograph, most likely to carry or use knives is excluded pupils.

7. There is some evidence that to carry a knife will raise the status of a young man amongst his peer group as the possession of a knife is associated with empowerment and control.

8. The smallest, but most dangerous group of knife carriers is undoubtedly the one that actually uses knives to commit crime.

9. There is little information to show why a particular weapon is viewed as an attractive option. However choice is likely to be determined by factors that address the purpose for which the knife is carried. For example:

• The extent to which the knife can be concealed.
• The extent to which the knife has utility, e.g. can be used to frighten another.
• The accessibility of knives/weapons to the person.
• The extent to which a lawful purpose can be claimed for an object.

10. Should a person wish to carry a knife for protection or to commit crime it would need to be easily concealed and be of such a nature to be useful in its purpose (to frighten, to inflict an injury etc). The availability of knives is an important factor in choice. The results from the National Knife Amnesty showed the majority of knives surrendered to be food preparation knives. This suggests that these most easily available knives are the ones most commonly carried.

11. However, the carrying of weapons is not limited to knives. There is anecdotal evidence from British Transport Police of a move away from knives towards hammers as the weapon of choice. This may well be because a hammer is an effective instrument with which to assail someone that is not a weapon ‘per se’. There are therefore a number of reasonable explanations to having a hammer in ones possession that could more easily provide ‘lawful excuse’.

12. The recording of knife-enabled crime is presently not a mandatory requirement for police services, therefore caution must be exercised when comparing London knife crime with that recorded elsewhere. Devon and Cornwall Constabulary recently conducted a nationwide knife crime overview comparing figures supplied by all forces. The following statistics provide an indication of the extent of the problem in three metropolitan forces and are based on returns for 2004/05:

• Metropolitan Police - 11533
• Greater Manchester Police - 3383
• West Midlands Police - 4917

13. Referring to the national picture Devon and Cornwall concluded from their analysis that:

• ‘The proportion of violent crimes involving the use of a weapon has remained relatively stable between 1995 and 2004/05’.

14. Operation Blunt is the MPS response to knife crime. The team has scoped initiatives from other forces that have been used to tackle knife crime and collated the results into three tactical menus around the strands of:

• Intelligence.
• Prevention.
• Enforcement.

15. The next step will be to evaluate the effectiveness of the various tactics used. This continuing work is currently being sponsored by ACPO as a basis for developing the National Knife Crime Strategy. The MPS are leading the development of the national approach, and with the inclusion of a reassurance strand the MPS will use this as the basis for its knife crime strategy.

16. Operation Blunt has sourced £210,000 from the Home Office for its current operations and has matched this resource with four staff and additional funding from the TP tasking budget. This is being used to target knife-enabled violence against the person and robbery particularly over the Halloween and Bonfire period.

17. The longer-term solutions to tackling knife crime are centred on an effective education and diversion programme. Education, to provide young people with accurate information with which to make informed decisions around knife issues. Diversion to encourage those on the fringes of knife crime to relinquish their knives. Even though liaison is taking place with DfES there are significant challenges in effectively engaging with secondary schools. Negotiation will have to be undertaken with each school independently of the others and there is nothing to stipulate that the school must include the material in its curriculum.

18. There are a number of education initiatives that are available ‘off the shelf’ at a price. For example, MsDorothy.com is an on line resource that contains an anti-knife crime lesson that can be delivered in schools. However these programmes may require further evaluation before determining their effectiveness.

19. The MPS’s own website ‘itsnotagame.com’ uses ‘Knife City’, a DVD purporting to be a computer game which delivers an anti-knife message. This initiative was used successfully when it was supported by London radio stations that used broadcasts to direct young people to the site. The Home Office supports ‘itsnotagame.com’ as an example of best practice and consequently this material is now being used nationally.

20. The new power expected to be granted to head-teachers this October allowing them to search pupils on school premises if suspected to be in possession of a knife or weapon is a useful development. The MPS is willing to work with schools to offer assistance with search training and to establish protocols for calling police prior or post search depending on the risk assessment.

21. The establishment of a protocol between hospitals and police to inform when a patient has been admitted with a knife wound would help to clarify the intelligence picture. It is an anomaly that instances of gun shot wounds are notified to police by hospital accident and emergency departments but stabbings are not. The MPS are currently exploring ways to remedy this through a hospital referral scheme, negotiations are in progress to pilot this.

22. The MPS has identified potential to reduce knife crime around five key areas:

Young people

23 Reducing fear of crime among young people is key to tackling youth knife carrying. Police partnerships can achieve this by creating safe zones around young people thereby negating the perception that to be safe you need to have a knife. Likely safe zone areas would be around schools, colleges, youth-clubs and associated transport networks.

Peers, gangs and the culture of knife carrying

24. There is a strong perception that there is a culture of knife carrying in the UK and in some instances carriers may graduate to carrying guns. This section of the knife carrying population must be targeted through a combination of effective education and intelligence led enforcement activities.

Night-time economy

25 The night-time economy includes bars, restaurants and nightclubs some of which suffer alcohol related violence. Measures to reduce knife-enabled crime within this economy will depend on the effectiveness of public private partnerships. It has been suggested that a condition of entry to clubs/pubs be a person search and that failure of licensees to comply could be dealt with by revocation of license or restrictions on opening times. There is some evidence to suggest that licensed premises that do make search a condition of entry have seen profits rise by creating a safe environment for the responsible customers.

Criminal usage

26. A small but significant category of knife carriers is the one that has possession of a weapon to commit or support a crime. Offenders may be engaged within the drugs trade or use the weapon to commit robberies. Intelligence led proactive targeting of identified individuals should assist police to deal with those engaged in criminal usage.

Domestic violence and persistent offenders

27. These groups are prolific offenders who will use knives both inside the home and in our public places. It is feasible to use existing intelligence to help target “men of violence” in areas where they may be more vulnerable to proactive police interventions, for example at licensed premises known to be used by prolific and persistent offenders. However, establishing the referral scheme involving hospital A&E departments similar to that already being used for gunshot wounds will greatly assist in tackling domestic violence and hate crime

C. Race and equality impact

1. Gender – Males accused account for 92.4% of all knife enabled crime, and 91.6% of all knife enabled violence against the person (VAP). Males accused account for 92.6% of all knife enabled personal robbery.

2. Age - For all knife crime 90% of accused are male. There are clear differences in the ages of persons accused of knife enabled robbery and knife enabled violence against the person. Knife enabled robbery accused tend to be younger (41% - aged 15-18). Those accused of knife enabled VAP are older (27% - aged 19-25).

3. Ethnicity - Black males account for 59.2% of accused for knife enabled robbery and 41% for all knife enabled crime. White male North Europeans accused of knife enabled robbery account for 24.7% and 34.2% for all knife-enabled crime.

4. Tactics - MPS tactics are intelligence led. Temporal analysis used with new technologies (knife arches / wands / CCTV) will ensure a proportionate response to these issues. Suspects of any age/ethnicity/gender are more likely to be stopped because of their behaviour in an identified hotspot or because they have come to notice as a consequence of these technologies.

D. Financial implications

None

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: DAC Hitchcock, MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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