Cleveland Police says action to tackle knife crime has seen a fall of 12% among young people across Teesside in 2024.
The force’s ‘Carrying a Blade Doesn’t Give You an Edge’ campaign has been running since 2023 to encourage young people to understand the dangers and devastating consequences of carrying blades. This year’s campaign, which ran from September to November, focused on two children whose lives are impacted and changed forever by knife crime – one child is the victim of a knife attack and the other the perpetrator committing the crime.
One child ends up dead after being stabbed and the other in prison for it. The force says pro-active operations are run throughout the year to target those involved in violent crime, such as Operation Artemis which took place in November, and Operation Sceptre – which runs twice a year with a strong focus on engagement and education in schools.
It also runs Operation Deterrence all year round, with officers from each district carrying out patrols in areas identified as high harm for violence. Targeted stop searches have shown an increase in those arrested on suspicion of possession of a bladed article, with 156 arrests in 2024 -up from 140 in 2023.
The force said the combination of action, education and engagement has helped see the number of young people aged 24 and under involved in knife crime reduce by 12% – from 305 offences between January and December in 2023 to 268 between January and December in 2024.
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Baker said: “The efforts of Cleveland Police and our partners are having a positive impact in reducing the number of knife related offences involving young people across Teesside. We acknowledge we all still have a long way to go and policing is only a small part of the whole response to knife crime.
“We will continue with everything we are currently doing to drive down the numbers of young people carrying knives, but we need parents, carers and our communities to work closely with us to show our younger generation that they can have a bright future if they ditch the blade.”
He said evidence is clear that a child who carries a knife is more likely to become a victim of knife crime. And, the force works closely with partners to fully understand all of the contributing factors that lead to young people carrying a blade or causing serious violence.
ACC Barker said: “Together we must all contribute to reducing knife-crime related violence among young people in our community and this will make Teesside an even safer place for young people to live and work now and in the future.”
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