Knife crime down 21% but fears it could rise after Covid curbs lifted, as Priti Patel announces new ‘Serious Violence Duty’

The ONS said the decline meant that there was a total of 11,459 knife offences in the capital during 2020
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Knife crime in London fell by 21 per cent last year with blade offences down by more than 3,000 as the impact of the coronavirus restrictions suppressed violence, official figures revealed today.

The Office for National Statistics said the decline meant that there was a total of 11,459 knife offences in the capital during 2020. That is the lowest annual tally since 2017 and more than a fifth lower than the 14,586 knife crimes recorded in London the previous year.

Knife homicides were also down from 94 in 2019 to 66 last year, while knife enabled rapes or sexual assaults fell by 21 per cent to a new annual total of 103.

Knifepoint robberies dropped by 29 per cent and attempted murders and assaults with a knife were also down in a further evidence that Met efforts and the reduced ability of people to mix during the pandemic affected crime.

Today’s figures — which reflected national trends — provide a relatively rare glimmer of optimism after several years of rising knife crime in London. However, the spate of fatal teenage stabbings this year has already raised doubts about how far the progress caused by the pandemic can be sustained.

They came as Home Secretary Priti Patel announced today that councils, the NHS, fire services and other public bodies will be required to work with police in tackling the root causes of knife crime as part of a new “Serious Violence Duty”.

The guidance is contained in legislation currently passing through Parliament and sets out how public services should share data and develop a strategy for tackling the causes of violence in their area. It also requires them to work with young people and community and voluntary groups to help vulnerable individuals avoid becoming caught up in violence.

Announcing details of the new duty, contained in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, Ms Patel said: “I am determined to make our streets safer by tackling serious violence at its roots.”

Today’s guidance will be subject to consultation.

Other measures in the Bill will lead to the introduction of offensive weapons homicide reviews and serious violence reduction orders. The reviews will examine the circumstances leading up to such killings and the reduction orders will give courts the power to impose conditions on offenders.

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