Shocking new statistics on knife crime

11:10am Friday 18th July 2008

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A knife crime is committed every eight-and-a-half hours in Sussex, new figures show.

In the past year, four murders, one attempted murder, 18 threats to kill, six rapes and 210 woundings have involved the use of blades.

A total of 1,050 knife crimes were committed from June 2007 until May 2008, with Sussex Police managing to solve 688 during the same period.

But almost half of the knife crimes solved resulted in the offender being let off with a police caution – effectively a slap on the wrist.

The figures were obtained by The Argus using a Freedom of Information Act request and show the scale of the knife problem in the county.

And they vindicate our Knives Cost Lives campaign, which has been backed by hundreds of our readers.

The figures follow the publication by the Home Office yesterday of the British Crime Survey, which includes a new set of data on knife attacks in every force in England and Wales.

Serious violent crimes involving a blade have previously been bundled with other attacks, but for the first time, officers have recorded them separately in light of growing public concern.

The Home Office figures reveal that from March 2007 to March 2008, 274 people have been injured in Sussex as a result of knife attacks.

In comparison, the Metropoliton Police handled 7,409 knife attacks.

Assistant Chief Constable Robin Merrett said: “Every knife crime has serious – sometimes tragic – consequences for victims and their families, and we will do all we can to reduce them.

“But these numbers need to be kept in proportion. Sussex remains a safe place to live and we have not experienced the level of knife crime that has been seen in some of our major cities.

“If anything, our overall figures for all knife crime in 2007-08 are showing a slight decrease on previous years.”

Home Office statistics show overall recorded crime in Sussex from March 2007 to March 2008 decreased 10.3% on the previous year.

Police also solved 32.2% of all crimes during the same period, a 6.5% increase on the previous year.

Mr Merrett said: “These are excellent results.

“Most important is that there were more than 13,000 fewer victims of crime in Sussex last year. The figures indicate that Sussex remains a safe place to live.

“They are a tribute to the work of police officers and staff, and the partners with whom we work closely, but there is no room for complacency.

“We want people to feel safe as well as be safe and continue to work on this.”

Nationally the Home Office said said overall crimes were down.

Please support our Knives Cost Lives campaign, by signing our petition to Home Office minister Tony McNulty. Click here to fill in and submit the petition