Wiltshire continues to be one of the safest counties in the country despite recent national reports about the ‘knife crime epidemic’ rising faster in market towns due to the spread of county lines.

Wiltshire Police has the fifth lowest number of knife crime offences nationally and recorded a decrease of 8%, a decrease of 26 crimes, for the year ending March 2024 in comparison to the previous 12 months.

Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson said: “Recent high-profile incidents mean that knife crime has come to the forefront of our communities and addressing serious violence and its causes continues to be a priority for me and my office.

“I am reassured to see that a decrease in knife crime is being reported in the most recent data available but this doesn’t take away from the impact these incidents have in our communities and the resultant fear – which can breed further violence.  We still have some way to go for people to feel safe, which is different altogether than statistics telling them they are safe, but the Chief Constable and I are determined to work on this.

“Knife crime has a devastating impact on communities, and it does not happen in isolation, there are a number of factors that can influence whether someone decides to arm themselves with a knife - while none of these are excusable to the harm that can be caused - we must address the precursors to knife crime to effectively drive it down and make Wiltshire safer.”

Under the Serious Violence Duty, the Police and Crime Commissioner has a legal obligation to bring together specified partners to work collaboratively to prevent and reduce serious violence and monitoring its performance. Partners include Wiltshire Police, Swindon Borough Council, Probation Services, Wiltshire Council, NHS, Fire and Rescue and the Youth Justice Service.

Mr Wilkinson added: “Market towns are not immune to the threat posed by knife crime, but nor are they being ignored in the partnership work happening to make Wiltshire safer and evidence-led initiatives have been commissioned in our market towns to address local need and target those most at risk of becoming offenders or victims of serious violence.”

These initiatives include focussed deterrence targeting children and young people at risk of committing serious violence offences in Devizes and diverting them away from criminality, Blunt Truth sessions in schools across the county teaching children about the consequences of carrying a knife and WAY Beacons, A&E navigators in Great Western Hospital who engage with young people in A&E to break the cycle of readmissions, crime and risk-taking behaviour.

Ian Saunders , Assistant Chief Constable for Local Policing at Wiltshire Police, said: “Whilst, thankfully, we have relatively low volumes of knife crime within Wiltshire and Swindon, we can never be complacent about the risks it poses and tragically we still see people significantly injured or killed by knives in our communities.

“I want to reassure our communities that we will continue to work tirelessly to tackle this area of crime which has such devastating impacts. We continue to carry out a wide range of operational and partnership activity to tackle knife crime including our proactive work in support of Operation Sceptre where we have carried out visible patrols and weapon sweeps in our communities, helped to increase the number of knife surrender bins across the Force area and worked with young people to carry out test purchasing activity to help ensure that knives are not sold to young people in our communities. 

“In addition, I would ask that the community assist us in our work to tackle the risks presented by knife crime.  Reporting suspicious activity and providing information to us can make a significant difference in our ability to maintain public safety and reduce the risk of future knife-related criminality.”

Published 23 July 2024