Knife crime soars to record high in 2019; visit this blog post to check stabbings in your local area

SHOCKING to see knife crime reaching a record high caused by years of complacency and ostrich 'head in the sand' inaction and cuts by government - and very worrying, poor policing.

To be fair, there's been terrorism to deal with - but the ease with which MPs can make cuts versus intelligence required to invest and improve country culture saw our elected politicians proving their low IQ. Apparently many of these people are all highly educated, and their counterpart senior civil servants too.

Offences involving a knife or sharp instrument rose to a little over 44,000 from c.41,000 in the year to June 2019.

How bad is knife crime in your home town? The BBC has published a zoomable map on its website:

To understnad more about the knife crime scourge devastating more and more lives of victims, family and friends, read more here - Analysis of the statistics and Places where knife crime is rising fastest.

MAYOR tries to avoid responsibility for knife crime rise

AS SUMMER holidays start, Sadiq Khan faces pressure for failing to prevent rises in knife crime and prevent serious youth violence.

If you study what Khan says in this video, it covers what we may have read is every issue causing knife crime; remarkable - like a perfectly written lengthy script.

So much time and consideration getting the words correct - better if such time was spent on solving the problems, surely?

Or, more relevant, he and others (the Government + all MPs) should not have sleepwalked into soaring knife crime levels ... there's been plenty of evidence knife crime was always rising.

These people, it seems, simply haven’t placed people’s lives above other political agendas (sic. power + career agendas).

Read more about this knife crime story on the Express website

BEST knife crime statistical analysis for decades (Q2 2019)

MORE DETAILED and improved analysis of knife crime statistics has appeared online this year - and it shows a clearer picture of the issue compared to some 15 years ago when I first started taking a long, hard look at what was measured and reported.

As I said then, it is nigh on impossible to best manage without measurement. So, rather than wait for the Government and police to provide better analysis and communications of a general increase in knife crime over decades, the BBC seems to have got organised to do it.

As well as better analysis, the results look to be actionable statistics.

The top line figures are about knife crime in England and Wales rising to record levels in 2017-18 with fatal stabbings highest since records started in 1946.

• 40,829 offences involving knives or sharp instruments in 2018, up 6% on the previous year
• Incidents of murder and manslaughter (not terror) increased 12% with 732 killings, up from 655 in 2017

Earlier this decade, I reported that some decrease in knife crimes had occurred. However, I did express skepticism because the steady fall led up to election times (a problem being solved will help win political votes of course - or not lose so many).

Sure enough, up to the general election of 2015 numbers were falling. As soon as Theresa May left the Home Office to become PM, those knife crime stats for England and Wales started to soar.

Here's how the BBC has set out the various key knife crime reporting on various of its website pages:

• First 100 fatal stabbings in the UK 2019 (animated graphic, moving timeline with each attack site revealed)
• Total knife offences in England and Wales (Offences involving a knife or sharp instrument)
• English hospital admissions for knife assaults (Number of admissions for assault by a sharp object)
• What crimes are knives used for? (% of knife crime by offence type, England and Wales, y/e September 2018)
• Murders committed by knife (1977-2018, England and Wales)
• Most violent attacks involve no weapons (Use of weapons in violent incidents, England and Wales, y/e March 2018)
• Most perpetrators of knife crime are over 18 (Knife possession offences by age, England and Wales, y/e September 2018)
• Regional variation in knife crime offences (Knife offences per 100,000 people by region, England and Wales, y/e March 2018)
• What has happened to stop and searches? (Stop and searches in England and Wales)
• How have police officer numbers changed? (Number of police officers in England and Wales)
• Tougher sentences for knife crime are increasing (Immediate custodial sentences for knife offences, England and Wales)

(I have been campaigning and fundraising to prevent knife crime since the early 2000s after rushing to try to help a fatally stabbed McDonald's supervisor.)

STABBED dog helps noose tighten around knife criminals

STABBINGS of a police dog and his handler have brought a change in UK law to help ensure more severe penalties for knife crime offenders.

New legislation - dubbed Finn's Law - means stabbers who cause unnecessary suffering to public service animals like police dogs and horses can face tougher sentencing.

Finn is a German shepherd stabbed 'on duty'. He has been appearing this year on Britain's Got Talent with police dog handler PC Dave Wardell.

Police dog Finn stabbed by knife robber

Finn and Dave were both stabbed trying to arrest a man who tried to rob a taxi at gunpoint. Finn was stabbed in the head an chest while holding on to the suspect until reinforcements arrived, saving his handler from further injury.

It was believed Finn would die but survived. The robber was charged with ABH for wounds to PC Wardell's hand but only 'criminal damage' for stabbing Finn.

More details on BBC News: Stabbed police dog law passed