Sheffield knife crime: Police boss warns of too many people still carrying weapons

Alan Billings spoke out during Operation Sceptre, a nationwide week long crackdown on knife crime, which is running this week.

His comments also came after new figures revealed that 1,000 people have ended up in hospital after stabbings in South Yorkshire over the last decade.

READ MORE: Sheffield police in knife crime crackdown as new figures reveal two people are hospitalised each week

Between April 2012 and March this year, there were around 1,210 admissions of patients from the South Yorkshire policing area following an assault with a sharp object, according to data from NHS Digital.

Of those, around 36 per cent involved people aged under 25.

Around 150 admissions followed attacks in 2020-21 – the most recent period with complete data.

Mr Billings said knife crime is reducing but still too many people walk the streets armed.

“Although the latest figures released last week by the Office of National Statistics showed that South Yorkshire has had a 15 per cent reduction in knife crime over the 12 month period to the end of June, there are still too many knives on our streets,” he said.

“Knives are deadly weapons, as deadly as a loaded gun, and we have seen too many tragic impacts on people’s lives as a consequence of them being used. Crimes involving knives cause serious harm to individuals and have a long lasting impact on communities. That is why tackling knife crime has been a key priority for me and a focus of the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit.

“I have funded a number of initiatives to help steer young people away from carrying knives and weapons and to provide alternative activities that will support them to live a life without crime.

“Through the Violence Reduction Unit we have funded work in schools and in young people’s groups to help them understand that carrying a knife will not make them any safer and may well result in them being hurt or in trouble with the law.

“This is why we support boxing clubs such as De Hood on Arbourthorne. I firmly believe such groups give young people positive activities and the staff provide role models who will talk to young people about the folly of carrying a knife.

“We have also funded two projects called Navigators where those who have been involved in violence and end up either in hospital or in a custody suite are offered a chance to take a different path. Navigators meet offenders and stay with them in order to help them turn their lives around. These are ground-breaking projects in South Yorkshire, evaluated by Sheffield Hallam University.

“Alongside that South Yorkshire Police work tirelessly to bring enforcement activity against those individuals and gangs who choose to use knives and weapons and carry out criminal activity. This is what stop and search is intended to do.

“I hope the public can see that our proactive work is paying off and they can be assured that we will continue to do everything within our power to reduce crimes involving knives and other weapons to keep our communities safe.”