Record number of knives taken off streets as knife murders drop by almost 20%

Knife crime overall has fallen for the first time in four years, dropping by five per cent. The latest admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales also show a ten per cent fall in admissions for knife assaults.

Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: “Too many young lives are lost each year to knife crime.

“This government is determined to halve knife crime. We are making progress, but we won’t stop until we meet that goal.

“We will pursue this mission relentlessly, doing everything we can to get these weapons off our streets.”

The Government introduced the first phase of Ronan’s Law, banning ninja swords last summer. Ahead of the ban, a month-long surrender scheme was launched, including funding for nearly 40 new surrender bins and a mobile van in parts of London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands – the areas worst-hit by knife crime.

The latest figures show:

• 7,512 knives and weapons were surrendered either through the ninja sword surrender and compensation scheme, handed in to the mobile surrender van or dropped into surrender bins in the most recent surrender scheme;
• 47,795 zombie-style knives and machetes surrendered last year;
• 3,334 knives seized by Border Force; and
• 618 knives recovered through County Lines Programme operations.

These efforts are being supported by smarter policing – including hotspot patrols, knife arches, drones, and plain clothes officers – and strong partnerships with charities and communities.

This was coupled with the launched of a Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce with chief constables and other criminal justice partners to take operational action to reduce knife enabled robbery as quickly as possible.

Since June last year there has been a ten per cent reduction in knife enabled robbery.

West Midlands Police saw the largest percentage fall, down by 30 per cent, with 771 fewer robberies

British Transport Police also reported a notable fall of 107 offences, down 26 per cent,  with Avon and Somerset Constabulary recording a 14 per cent drop with 82 fewer offences.