Knife crime offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales have increased in recent years, but remain below levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here are the key numbers and trends in the latest knife crime statistics, which were published on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
– How many offences are being recorded?
Some 54,587 offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in 2024.
This is up 2% from 53,413 offences in 2023, but is below the 55,170 offences in the pre-Covid year ending March 2020.
– What are the figures for different types of violent knife crime?
There has been a rise in the number of police-recorded robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument, up from 22,189 in 2023 to 23,305 in 2024, an increase of 5%.
The total is still lower than before the pandemic, with 24,419 recorded in 2019/20.
Knife-enabled homicides stood at 216 in 2024, down 16% from 258 in 2023 and lower than pre-pandemic figures (265 in 2019/20).
The number of offences classed as knife-enabled threats to kill has risen slightly, up 3% year-on-year from 5,797 to 5,979.
Both of these totals are higher than those recorded before the pandemic (4,935 in 2019/20).
– What are the figures for possession of knives?
The number of offences classed as “possession of an article with a blade or point” stood at 28,150 in 2024, up 1% year-on-year from 27,892 and higher than the pre-pandemic figure of 23,264 in 2019/20.
It is also nearly double the figure for 2016/17 (14,450).
– How do the figures break down by force?
Of the 54,587 knife crime offences in England and Wales in 2024, 31% (16,789) were recorded by the Metropolitan Police, 9% (4,664) by West Midlands Police, 6% (3,452) by Greater Manchester Police and 4% (2,319) by West Yorkshire Police.
When looking at the number of offences per population, the Metropolitan Police had the highest rate, with 188 per 100,000 people, followed by West Midlands Police (156 per 100,000), Cleveland Police (149 per 100,000) and Greater Manchester Police (117 per 100,000).
Of the 44 forces (including British Transport Police) operating in England and Wales, 18 saw a year-on-year increase in knife crime offences in 2024.
The largest percentage increases were recorded by the British Transport Police (up 25%), the Metropolitan Police (up 16%), Cambridgeshire (up 14%) and Hertfordshire (up 14%).
City of London Police saw a jump of 18%, but this was based on a very low number of offences (49 in 2023, 58 in 2024).
Wiltshire recorded the largest percentage drop (down 22%), followed by Suffolk (down 21%), Cumbria (down 17%) and Kent (down 17%).
