New knife crime policy welcomed by Fed, but sustained Government investment needed to tackle the issue

20 September 2024

Federation branch chair Rich Cooke says West Midlands Police’s updated knife crime policy will allow the Force to take a more concentrated approach to the problem.

In welcoming the updated policy, Rich called on the Government to give the Force the resources and the numbers of officers it needed to tackle knife crime.

Rich said: “The policy is a significant step in the right direction, providing clear direction to colleagues, but now what needs to be done is at a higher level than our Force and that’s sustained investment in policing in West Midlands.

“We can have the right policies and processes in place but if we haven’t got the numbers of skilled, confident officers to implement it then the impact will be limited. Of course, the criminal justice and prison system is also under major stress. These are the underlying fundamentals we need urgently rectified so we can be more effective.”

Knife crime policy

The Force introduced its knife crime policy in November to give officers clear direction on how to effectively deal with the issue.

The juvenile policy has now been updated following consultation with partners, with changes including:

· Earlier outcome decisions for juvenile knife crime suspects, the vast majority of which while they are safely in police custody with a teachable moment to prevent reoffending instead of waiting subject to further delays through bail

· Exceptionally, where there is no option but to bail for further enquiries, this will be for the shortest possible time.

Rich said: “Our view is that anyone who is carrying weapons like these knives and machetes is a potential killer and needs to be dealt with as such. This reflects the feedback of many colleagues who have seen the devastation caused by knife violence sadly often perpetrated by juveniles.

“We don’t think that it’s been treated with sufficient severity by decision-makers in recent years, particularly with regard to juveniles.

“The new knife crime policy says that offenders who are under 18 and arrested for knife-related offences should have their outcome decision made by the police while they are in custody rather than being bailed for a decision at the Youth Justice Service panel.

“We are taking ownership of the problem to prevent crime and address wider safeguarding issues through this approach.

“I’d give our Chief Constable credit for listening to the feedback of rank and file colleagues, driving this forward, working through the complex issues around youth justice and making sure we are arresting more suspects found with deadly weapons with public protection being the first priority.

“With regard to juveniles, we desperately do want them to be supported and rehabilitated in the long run but ultimately that’s secondary to the protection of the innocent law abiding public and themselves as young people.”

Rich said the Force’s knife crime investigations and outcomes were ‘going in the right direction’.

But he said the Force was still 700 officers short of its total number of officers back in 2010.

Better funding

He said the Force needed Government investment in officers and infrastructure to continue to make significant progress on knife-related crime.

“We’re still way below where we were in 2010,” he explained. “We're the poor relations among UK police forces. We’ve not seen sufficient dividends from of the 20,000 officer uplift, and still suffer through an outdated funding formula which consistently rewards more affluent areas with better funding.

“Labour, when they were in opposition, said their policy was to recruit 13,000 neighbourhood officers across England and Wales.

“We are hoping that (Home Secretary) Yvette Cooper’s promise of 13,000 neighbourhood officers will translate into that 700 deficit at least disappearing and then adding some on top.

“The Force is now fitter and has the right priorities, but to really push on and start making a difference people will really see and feel, we need the Government to step up and give us a fair settlement in terms of officers and funding.”