Cops ‘too busy’ to log thousands of unreported knife crimes, report claims
Figures show there were 37,443 recorded knife crimes last year
THOUSANDS of knife crimes may go unreported as police are too busy to log them, a report claims.
Forces are trialling technology that automatically records them — freeing up time for “catching offenders”.
As a bitter row erupted over police cuts, the Home Office said coppers across England and Wales were often too busy to “flag” when knives had been used in robberies, burglaries or violent attacks.
It added there was no specific ‘code’ for a knife crime – such as possession – under a system used by the police to report types of offences.
It comes after figures show there were 37,443 knife crimes last year.
Yesterday’s 115 page report detailing ways to tackle violent crimes said: “Flagging crimes requires police resource that could be spent on preventing or catching offenders.
“That is why we are trialling technology with the police to automatically record crimes as knife crimes when a knife is mentioned, rather than requiring an individual to read through and determine this.”
The startling revelation came as Home Secretary Amber Rudd yesterday insisted the Government would “get a grip on” the rise in serious violence – and detailed a multi-point plan to stop the bloodshed on Britain’s streets.
The report yesterday revealed hospital admissions of under-18s assaulted with a sharp object is up 51 per cent since 2012.
There were 116 killings in London last year and more than 50 already in 2018.
Among the measures were tougher restrictions on buying “zombie” knives online.
She vowed to extend stop and search and confirmed plans to ban the sale of acid to under-18s.
And she unveiled plans for a wave of new prevention and intervention programmes to stop young children being drawn into gangs.
And she demanded both social media giants and the music industry do more to tackle gang crime by taking down content “glamorising” thugs.
But she lifted the lid on the scale of the crisis facing the country by saying an alarming spread of crack cocaine was fuelling a dramatic rise in violent attacks.
She added there had been a marked shift towards younger children being drawn into the violence.
Ms Rudd said the spread of crack cocaine was fuelling the rise in violence, with younger children increasingly drawn in.
Convictions of ten to 17-year-olds for production and possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply was up 77 per cent on 2012. She denied police cuts were behind the increase in bloodshed on the streets.
Cut gangs 'glam, Rudd pleads
HOME Secretary Amber Rudd yesterday urged the music industry and social media giants to stop “glamorising” street thugs.
She said it was a very good idea for record firms and radio stations to consider messages sent by songs about gangs and drive-by shootings.
Ms Rudd accused social media firms of failing to stop gangs using their platforms to incite violence.
She said the likes of Snapchat and YouTube must change terms and conditions to make it clear gang content would be taken down.
Smartphones have given gangs an “almost unlimited opportunity” to antagonise each other, she added.
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Labour MPs said it defied belief there was no mention of job losses in Ms Rudd’s 115-page Serious Violence strategy report. It followed an earlier leaked Home Office document which suggested the 21,000 fall in numbers since 2010 had made it harder to control serious crime — and may have “encouraged” offenders.
Ms Rudd said she had not seen the leaked paper and insisted the evidence did not support the claims.
She said serious violent crimes were at their highest when police numbers were rising in the early 2000s — yet in 2008, when knife crime was far above the lows of 2013-2014, police numbers were “close to the highest . . . in decades”.
One senior Tory last night said: “The Conservative Party was once a party of law and order. The serious worry now is that we’re losing that.”