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See other news storiesMillions budgeted to fight knife crime
22 May 2008
The Home Office will invest an additional £5m in a nation-wide effort to stop the spread of knife crime.
Speaking at a conference in Birmingham to recognise work done there to stop the spread of gang violence, the Home Secretary announced the new funding.
She pledged further support for four regions that are leading the national effort to tackle gun crime and other violent criminality.
Money to fund targeted police work
Building on the successful approach of targeting areas where the problem is most serious, the Home Secretary committed extra cash for the police, local authorities and communities to support intensified action on knife crime.
The money will be spent focusing on ten crime hotspots where more knife search arches and targeted stop and search operations will be used.
Police will work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that those carrying knives are prosecuted.
The money will also be used to support community projects like Be Safe (new window) show young people the risks and consequences of carrying weapons.
Tackling gangs programme
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said, 'I set up the Tackling Gangs action programme last September because I was convinced that by focusing our activities on local hotspots, we could make progress on an area of crime that devastates families, communities and neighbourhoods.'
Now, she said, she wanted to go further by:
- providing witnesses with guarantees that their identity will be protected and that they can give evidence safely
- stopping guns from coming into the country
- providing safe housing and education opportunities for young people leaving gangs
Promising start
She pointed to early findings from the Tackling Gangs programme (new window), which showed a substantial drop in gun-related injuries across targeted areas in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.
More than £1.5m was invested in troubled neighourhoods in those cities over a period of six months to develop innovative approaches to dealing with gangs.
Early results from the programme included:
- reduction of 51% in gun-related injuries across the four areas (from 93 offences in October 2007 to 46 in February 2008)
- a drop of 27% in the overall number of gun offences in the four areas (from 165 in October to 120 in February)
- hundreds of arrests, and the seizure of ten real and more than 1000 imitation firearms, as well as vehicles, cash and drugs
'These early findings are encouraging, which is why I want to spread this approach to knife crime and build on what works,' she said. 'I’m determined that we should do all we can to get all weapons off our streets.'
