The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
This week Lincolnshire Police unites with forces around the country as part of a national drive to tackle knife crime after a “deeply concerning” rise in the county.
Operation Sceptre is a national week of action, which follows a knife attack at a teenager’s party in Spalding.
The aim of the week is to increase awareness about the dangers of carrying knives and how the police are working to keep them off the streets.
In Lincolnshire, the average number of incidents per 100,000 involving knives stands at 35 – a 15 per cent increase. Locally, these incidents are also mainly either assaults to cause injury or serious harm (53%) or robberies (27%). These assaults usually happen in domestic properties and involve people who know each other.
The local increase in possession offences is from 183 to 263 incidents – a 44 per cent increase. During this same period, our police officers carried out 62 per cent more stop searches for knives or bladed articles – from 110 searches to 178. An extra 20 weapons were found in the additional searches.
All figures relate to comparisons between 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Detective Chief Inspector Amy Whiffen, force lead for knife crime, says: “Lincolnshire is a really safe place to live and the vast majority of residents are highly unlikely to experience knife crime.
“That being said, we are attending more knife-related incidents and recovering more knives from our proactive stop-searches.
“People carry knives either for their own protection, to try and gain respect, out of pure anger or because they are intent on committing crime.
“Whatever the reason, carrying a knife means even the smallest situation can escalate into something much more serious or life-changing. Knife crime has devastating and lasting damage, not just to the victim and their families, but also to whole communities.
“Through the Stay Safe Partnership and the Future 4 Me initiative we are focusing on educating our county’s young people. We also have the Joint Diversionary Panel which can intervene when young people have become involved in knife crime.
Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, said “It is true that the incidents of knife crime in Lincolnshire are lower than other parts of the country but the numbers are on the rise, both here and in the UK, and that is deeply concerning.”
Nationally, incidents involving knives or sharp instruments have risen by 8 per cent. The national average number of incidents per 100,000 population now stands at 80.
These incidents relate heavily to either assaults to cause injury or serious harm (46 per cent) or robberies (42 per cent). Possession offences are also up by 21 per cent. concerning.”
