Within only 12 months, the Met Police investigated 13,405 knife-related crimes, further indication that London has emerged as the nation’s centre for knife crime.
According to crime survey data supplied by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 49,991 non-fatal incidents with knives were reported in England and Wales between October 2021 and June 2022.
This translates to 136 attacks a day.
With 253 offences since June, or around one case per 1,000 inhabitants, the central borough of Westminster has London’s highest offence rate by population, while the lowest offence rates are found in Bromley, Kingston upon Thames, and Richmond upon Thames.
89 assaults were reported in Kensington and Chelsea, compared to 273 in Southwark, 113 in Greenwich, and 120 in Islington.
With 1,125 offences in one month, August was discovered to be the most harmful overall, as opposed to 850 in February.
Mayor Sadiq Khan stated earlier this year that gang activity is involved in about a quarter of all murders and more than half the shootings in London.
But he stressed that knife crimes affect the entire community and are not just a gang problem.
In an effort to combat the scourge, Mr. Khan initially implemented a knife crime strategy in 2017. He promised to “divert young people at highest risk of offending and victimisation away from a life destroyed by crime.”
He declared, “Our communities are sick and tired of the damage being done by knife crime.”
Outside of London, knife attacks also surged from 3,299 to 4,958 — or 169 per 100,000 people — in the West Midlands, while they increased from 3,297 to 3,563 in Greater Manchester.
The research, which investigated instances which police responded to during a nine-month period from October 2021 to June 2022, revealed that knife attacks have decreased from previous pre-Covid levels despite still being high.
55,076 offences were reported in the year ending March 2020.