London: The latest Met police statistics show more than 4,000 people suffered knife injuries in the capital in the last 12 months, a rise of 4.4 per cent on the previous 12 month period.
Deputy Mayor for Policing Sophie Linden described the rise as “deeply concerning,” saying Mayor Sadiq Khan had called a knife crime summit later this month to tackle the crisis.
The figures also show the number of shootings in London is also rising, though the numbers involved are smaller.
Outgoing Met police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told a recent City Hall meeting that the force was worried about the involvement of gang members in the number of stabbings and the casual carrying of knives by young people.
He said while overall knife crime offences were falling, often cases where people reported seeing a blade, more people in London were getting stabbed.
He said : “We have too many casually carrying knives. Most of these events happen in public, they don’t appear to be that pre-arranged. Casual or random arguments turn into very serious issues.”
Sir Bernard said stabbings involving gangs were often linked to organised crime.
Figures show the number of young people being stabbed is rising at a rate of five per cent – a total of 1,751 people under the age of 25 suffered knife injuries in the last 12 months, compared to 1,668 over the same period a year ago.
A total of 4,015 people suffered knife crime injuries in the 12 months to August, compared to 3,844 in the previous period, a rise of 4.4 per cent.
The last highest total was in 2011 when they were 4,135 victims of stabbings.
The figures are revealed as the Sentencing Council for England and Wales recommended tougher sentences for people caught carrying knives in the street.
Carrying a knife while in a group or gang, or filming attacks for social media could also spell more jail time.
The Council, who produces guidlines for the judiciary, says it wants sentences to better recognise public concern amid a rise in recorded knife offences.
Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said sentences should reflect the “devastation” caused by knife crime.
Ms Linden said: “Every death or serious injury of a young Londoner is an utter tragedy and the recent rise in knife crime is deeply concerning.
“This is a complex issue that cannot be solved by policing alone, which is why we are working with communities, partner organisations, local authorities, and schools to understand the causes, identify those at greatest risk and intervene more effectively to stop people carrying knives.”
Statistics also show that guns were fired 302 times in London in the year to the end of August 2016, 91 more than the previous year There was also a leap of a third in the number of guns fired in the month of August this year compared to June.
There were 46 firearm discharges in both July and August this year.
Sir Bernard said he believed the rise in gun crime was due to an increase in the number of weapons being smuggled into the UK.
The Met seized 714 guns in 2015, including semi-automatic guns, which he said was “worrying”.
Sir Bernard said one reason more people were carrying and using knives was the mistaken belief that they would feel safer if they carried a blade, when the opposite is true because often the same weapon was used against them.
The Met chief said he had ordered more stop and searches to be carried out in areas where there were the most stabbings. Figures compiled by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime show victims under 25 experience half of all knife injury robberies and 48% of all serious knife assault offences.
A Met operation to tackle knife crime launched in October last year had resulted in the seizure of 4,700 knives in London.
The figures were revealed after a series of shocking knife attacks on London’s streets.
Last month Ricky Hayden, 27, a celebrities’ bodyguard who worked at the wedding of ex-England footballer Peter Crouch, was killed and his father Paul, 46, suffered serious injuries after they confronted four masked men armed with machetes who were allegedly trying to steal a moped outside the family home in Chadwell Heath. One man has been charged with murder.
In August 19-year-old Andre Aderemi became the eighth teenager to be stabbed to death in London this year.
He allegedly suffered multiple stab injuries. Four teenagers have been charged with his murder.
Sixteen people suffered knife injuries at this year’s Notting Hill carnival while a teenager who ‘stabbed people for fun’ when a water fight in Hyde Park exploded into violence is facing years behind bars.
Joshua Clements, 18, has admitted wounding two men with a hunting knife at the London park.
Concern that gangs were increasingly carrying so-called Zombie knives led to a Government ban on the sale knives with 25 inch serrated blades earlier this year.
source: standard.co.uk