Merseyside Police reaffirms commitment to tackling knife crime

Merseyside Police has reaffirmed its committed to tackling knife crime following a series of stabbings in Liverpool in the past week.

While we have seen knife crime fall significantly across Merseyside in recent years, we are never complacent because sadly we know all too well the devastation it brings and our work, together with our partners, to tackle knife crime remains ongoing on a daily basis, both visible and behind the scenes.

Liverpool Local Policing Chief Inspector Sarah Rotherham said:

“I know our communities will be concerned by recent incidents involving knives in Liverpool city centre, Walton and Speke and I want people to know that we remain committed to targeting those who choose to carry weapons on our streets and bringing them to justice.

“Despite these recent incidents, crimes involving knives have decreased. Over the last three years, serious violence on Merseyside has fallen by more than 23%, with 637 fewer offences compared to 21/22 and knife enabled serious violence has reduced by 27.8%, with 341 fewer offences compared to 21/22.

“But we have never lost sight of the work that still needs to be done. There is no place for knives in on the streets within our communities and our work continues to reassure the public and take action against those who store, carry and use weapons.

“We deploy a number of tactics including hotspot policing, which involves uniformed officers and PCSOs being deployed on regular, high visibility foot patrols within very specific geographical areas where there is an increased probability of serious violence and antisocial behaviour occurring. The latest results for our high visibility hotspot patrols are encouraging and show serious violence falling by 48.7% across the 25 hotspot areas together with a fall in antisocial behaviour.

“In addition we have used Serious Violence Reduction Orders and the work of our Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP) and partner organisations continues to be an important way to educate and tackle the root causes of knife crime

“We also rely on our communities to be our eyes and ears and I would ask anyone with information about any of these incidents to come forward and speak to us, either directly or anonymously via Crimestoppers. I would also encourage anyone who has information about anyone choosing to carry or store weapons to get in touch and tell us what they know.

“We know that feelings often run high when incidents like this happen and I would like to remind people to avoid speculating about the circumstances and allow our investigation teams to gather the necessary evidence to bring successful prosecutions.

“We continue to rely on communities and would encourage anyone with any information or concerns to report it to us. You can call 101, direct message @MerPolCC on Twitter or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”