FOI 324817
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 324817
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 11th April 2024. Please find below the response to your request:
Information from your organisation about knife-enabled crime by young people.
Between (and including) the date periods - 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2024, and 1 January 2024 to 11 April 2024 – please provide the following calendar yearly figures for:
- a) the number of offences of knife crime and knife-related crime recorded annually in your area since 2020,
- b) of which how many committed by people aged 16-19,
The number of knife crime and knife-related crime recorded annually in post-16 further education institutions in your area since 2020.
The number of all crimes committed by 16–19-year-olds recorded for every year in your area since 2020.
Please note that knife-related crime refers to offences made with bladed objects and can include (but are not limited to) possession, assault, threats or use of violence, grievous bodily harm, wounding, harassment, rape, robbery, criminal damage and affray.
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format with regards to knife crime and knife-related crime recorded in post-16 further education institutions. The premises type field is not mandatory. There are over 2000 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.
In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.
Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request.
Unfortunately, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed I am unable to identify information that could be supplied within the fees limit for this part of your request.
However, I can provide the information requested for the remaining questions as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests. Please see response below:
Between (and including) the date periods - 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2024, and 1 January 2024 to 11 April 2024 – please provide the following calendar yearly figures for:
- a) the number of offences of knife crime and knife-related crime recorded annually in your area since 2020,
|
Number of crimes believed to be knife related within West Mercia |
Calendar Year (01/01/2020 & 31/03/2024) |
Grand Total |
||||
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
||
|
4469 |
4519 |
5078 |
4667 |
1042 |
19775 |
|
- b) of which how many committed by people aged 16-19,
|
Number of crimes believed to be knife related where at least one suspect has been linked who is aged 16,17,18,19 within West Mercia |
Calendar Year (01/01/2020 & 31/03/2024) |
Grand Total |
||||
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
||
|
503 |
490 |
530 |
493 |
118 |
2134 |
|
The number of all crimes committed by 16–19-year-olds recorded for every year in your area since 2020.
|
Number of "all" crimes with at least one suspect has been linked who is aged 16,17,18,19 recorded within West Mercia |
Calendar Year (01/01/2020 & 31/03/2024) |
Grand Total |
||||
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
||
|
4720 |
4864 |
5262 |
4662 |
1123 |
20631 |
|
Caveats:
Crimes where knives have been used as part of an offence can be recorded with an offence title not linked to knives. For example if someone is stabbed with a knife and caused significant injuries the matter will be recorded as an “Assault”. We have therefore had to rely on a number of keyword searches to complete this request. Therefore, there may be some offences where the knife was not used in the commission of the offence but was at the scene.
The “age at time of incident” calculates the persons age on the date of the start of the offence. Some offending can take place over a number of years, for example cases of coercive behaviour within a domestic setting where a knife may have been used as a threat. We are unable to tell the age of the suspect at the time of the “knife” element of the offence if it has not been recorded separately. In these cases the suspect may have been a relevant age at the start of the offence but aged above the range by the end of the offence.
There may be occasions where there is more than one suspect linked to an offence, one whose age is within the range and ones whose age is not. If there is at least one suspect within the age range then the crime will be included in the second table.