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There is hope about knife crime, but it’s going to take more than well-meaning soundbites

There is hope about knife crime, but it’s going to take more than well-meaning soundbites

 There has been a lot of discussion around knife crime in the past few days following the release of the documentary, Our Knife Crime Crisis, featuring Idris Elba. While this is not a review of the documentary – you can watch it here - I want to pick up on a couple of the points raised in the programme, as it covers several issues I am also focused on in Dorset.

To start, I want to be clear; we have low rates of knife crime in Dorset – one of the lowest in the country. But there are too many young people carrying knives, and that’s why it is a priority to tackle these offences. Just because we are one of the safest counties in the country, it doesn’t mean there should be any complacency around this very dangerous issue and that’s why my Office and Dorset Police take it extremely seriously.

While I welcome the zombie-knife ban which closed a loophole in the law last year, I believe we need to go much further to turn the tide. An announcement from the Home Office this week that stricter age verification checks for knife purchases and ID checks upon delivery of knives are set to be introduced is another positive step, but we still need more. I know a full review is expected soon on the online sale and delivery of knives, and I await that report with interest, along with the Crime and Policing Bill, which is due this spring. This Bill is due to provide further information on youth hubs, aimed to address knife crime and other issues among young people.

I know that early intervention is key to tackling this devastating crime and I was reassured to see this at the heart of this documentary. It is why I have been calling for a Violence Reduction Unit in Dorset to bring together partner agencies including local authorities, health, and education sectors to commission services to prevent serious violence. It is not enough to wait until the problem is too big to solve, I want to get this in place now to prevent issues from occurring. Solutions to the problem of knife crime will not be immediate, but they need to be in progress now.

My Office’s Violence Reduction and Prevention Team are already laying the groundwork and spearheading this work, collaborating with partners to ensure interventions and diversions, and identifying those most at risk so adequate safeguards can be put in place. Their focus is on vulnerability – one of the issues highlighted in the programme. My goal, through the work they are doing, is to commission quality early intervention to prevent harmful experiences in childhood from evolving into serious violence. As part of this aim, during March and April, they will be actively seeking the views of young people on knife crime and serious violence in Dorset.

We are getting on the front foot in Dorset, and I want people to have confidence in our commitment to tackle this abhorrent crime. But, as was stated by a detective in the documentary, policing alone cannot solve knife crime. It is a heartbreaking problem which needs each and every one of us – society at large – to collectively have the will to tackle it and stop young people picking up a knife and becoming embroiled in dangerous situations. I know that knife crime causes lives to be changed in a heartbeat – and I want to stop that devastation, but we need everyone working together in order to go further than ever before.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner

 

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