Police data shows knife crime has more than doubled in the region since 2012

Nearly 700 schoolchildren were victims of knife crime in the West Midlands last year, including 41 of primary school age, according to police figures that highlight growing alarm over young people carrying weapons.

Data released under freedom of information laws shows that 690 children aged under 17 were attacked or threatened with a knife in the region in 2018. Thirteen of the victims were just 10 years old.

More than 800 youngsters, including 45 children aged 10 to 11, were caught with a knife in the region last year, the figures show. Nearly half of the offences were for using the weapon as a threat.

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The data will add to concerns about the young age of those carrying knives on Britain’s streets following the deaths of 17-year-olds Jodie Chesney in London and Yousef Makki in Greater Manchester.

In Birmingham, three teenagers were fatally stabbed in just 12 days last month, prompting police chiefs to declare a city-wide “crisis” on knife crime.

Official data shows that violent crime has risen four times faster in Birmingham than in London, with MP Jack Dromey warning that the city is “at risk of becoming the knife crime capital of Britain”. Between April and September last year Birmingham’s murder rate per capita was higher than London’s.

Speaking in Birmingham in February, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, David Jamieson, described the situation in the region as a “national emergency” and called for additional financial support from the government.

Knife arches were installed at a college and a branch of McDonald’s in the city last week, along with a widening of police stop-and-search powers, following the deaths of Hazrat Umar, 18, Abdullah Muhammad, 16, and Sidali Mohamed, 16. There have been 269 stabbings in the city since the start of the year.

Guardian analysis of police figures shows that knife crime has more than doubled in the West Midlands since 2012. There were 3,108 knife-related offences in the region between October 2017 and September 2018, compared with 1,508 offences between April 2012 and March 2013.

A 14-year-old schoolgirl became the latest victim of a stabbing in the region on Wednesday after being attacked with a pair of scissors in Coventry. A 16-year-old girl was later arrested on suspicion of wounding and taken into police custody.

On the same day, a 16-year-old student and 26-year-old man were among three people injured in a fight involving weapons outside a city centre college in Birmingham.

Figures released under freedom of information laws showed a rise in the number of weapons being seized at schools or colleges in the West Midlands. In 2017, there were 65 recorded instances of knives being taken on to school grounds – up from 17 in 2012 but down from a high of 77 in 2016. Blades confiscated by teachers included kitchen knives, pen knives, a knuckle duster and a machete.

On Thursday, the Birmingham MP, Khalid Mahmood, said the knife crime epidemic in the city would continue due to cuts in policing and youth services. Mahmood said he was being regularly contacted by fearful members of the public who said they had been attacked and police had not shown up.

He added: “The police numbers are at such a low that it takes something very big, an emergency, for people to get a response at all. It has to be something pretty major. This is something which has progressively got worse over the past few years and I can’t see it getting any better unless something drastically changes.”

Mahmood said the figures, seen by the Guardian, were “absolutely devastating” and called on the government to outline clear commitments to resources which would help local communities to tackle the issue.

He added: “This is how epidemic it has become, that even young children – those of primary school age – feel that in order to protect themselves they have to carry a knife. This is because the police are not there to protect them; the youth workers aren’t there to support them.”

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Last week the West Midlands police chief constable, Dave Thompson, declared knife crime an emergency as he implemented extensive city-wide stop and search powers which will remain in place until the summer.

Thompson said that, as part of efforts to counteract the problem, vulnerable youngsters could be taken off the streets into police protection “for their own safety”. West Midlands police said it had stopped and searched 408 people using its new powers between 1 and 4 March, arresting 24 and seizing 14 weapons.

“This is an emergency that needs sustained and intensive action. The steps we are taking are blanket and widespread and blunt,” said Thompson.

Emerson Hanslip, the 16-year-old youth and crime commissioner for Dudley, said an increase in school exclusions and fear among young people had led to the rise in knife crime.

He said: “I know of people who have carried knives and have been excluded because of carrying a weapon. Lots more children are carrying knives out of fear.

“If they go out on the street in the evening and you are hearing about other people being attacked with knives then you feel pressured into carrying one to protect yourself – but because you carry this knife you are much more likely to become a victim.”

• This article was amended on 14 March 2019. An earlier version said that 690 West Midlands children aged under 16 were attacked or threatened with a knife. The figure is for children aged 10 to 16 inclusive.