Staffordshire Police: Knife Crime Definitions, Performance, and Stop Searches, Study notes of Accounting

Download Staffordshire Police: Knife Crime Definitions, Performance, and Stop Searches and more Study notes Accounting in PDF only on Docsity! Zoe Kumar - Service Development Unit Date: 17th October 2018 Version: 1 Owner: Chief Superintendent Simon Tweats Author: Service Development Unit Protective Marking: Official Transparency: Full – proactively published Knife Crime and Stop Search Report Page 2 Contents 1. National Definition 2. Local Definition 3. Stop Search for knives Page 5 Staffordshire are 2nd highest compared to their other most similar forces with 0.604 per 1000 population between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018. The graph below shows volumes of knife crimes based on the ADR definition across the country and Staffordshire is 13th out of 43 forces for the volume of crimes between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018. Staffordshire has also remained in 13th position in the previous 12 months. Force Knife crime (ADR) 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018 Page 6 Definition – Local The local (Staffordshire) definition of Knife crime is defined as: any crime, no crime or non-crime which has one of the following bladed weapon types and includes all possession of a blade offences:  Machete  Axe  Knife/dagger  Martial arts weapon  Saw  Sword/bayonet  Disguised knife  Stanley knife/blade This methodology has been locally defined and continues to be used as this covers all types of crime, as opposed to the specific offence types that are measured nationally via the ADR. Current Performance There have been 1370 knife offences committed between 1St October 17 and 30th September 18 (including 36 non/ no crimes), based on Staffordshire Police’s local definition of knife crime. This is an increase of 10% or 121 more offences than the previous year. Levels have been consistently above average for the last 12 months, but no breaches of the upper control limit have occurred. The majority of offences are possession of weapons (36%) which has increased by 23% on the last 12 months. Other Violence Against the Person also makes up a significant proportion of knife crime (18%) and this has increased by 9% in the last 12 months. Personal robbery has the third highest volume (13%) and has increased by 17% in the last 12 months. Page 7 Where is this happening? The highest volume of offending occurs within the city of Stoke-on-Trent (45%), with Stoke North making up 25% and Stoke South accounting for 20%. The city has not seen as significant an increase as at force level, with the city as a whole showing a 7% increase (39 additional offences) (Stoke North 6% increase with 20 additional offences, and Stoke South 8% increase with 21 additional offences) Other NPT’s have experienced a higher percentage increase but have smaller numbers of offences. What has happened? As a force we are focused on reducing knife crime, especially looking at a partnership approach to encourage preventative measures with children and young people, this has included joint work with schools, colleges and third sector organisations. We have supported applications for government funding for third sector organisations. We are aware not just from our own data, but also from other voices such as the youth commission and schools, that knife crime is an issue for young people. We are using a partnership approach to deal with the issue of knife crime as it cannot be solved purely through enforcement and policing methodologies, this is a national issue which no single agency can resolve on its own. What are we doing about it? We are using the findings from the national week of action (Op Sceptre) regarding best practice to tackle knife crime. There is a 4P plan for knife crime which is managed through a tactical group under the force lead Supt Fields, and there is an associated action plan to monitor and drive performance. Each NPT also has their own individual Knife crime plans. We are working in conjunction with partners and specifically schools to raise awareness and focus on prevention. Before the summer holidays, letters in relation to a joint response to Gangs and Youth Violence were sent to all parents across Stoke-on-Trent in relation to raising awareness of gangs, violence and knife crime. These letters were part of a partnership approach and were jointly signed by Force lead Supt Fields, Matthew Ellis, Local MP’s, City council and Chair of SASCAL (Stoke on Trent schools).