A COUNCILLOR said he was keen to see action being taken to crackdown on knife crime.
Cllr Steve Norman said data from the Office for National Statistics showed that incidents had risen 44% across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent since 2015/16.
The chair of Lichfield District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee said action was needed beyond civic awards – a reference to the recent unveiling of a plaque following the visit of the Knife Angel sculpture a year ago.
Cllr Norman said:
“The plaque, as well as the civic awards, were all part of the contract using public money.
” I am pleased to say that the new Government is not putting up plaques, but is cracking down on zombie knives and machetes.
“From 24th September it will be illegal to own zombie-style knives and machetes.
“Ahead of the new ban coming into force, anyone who has one of these weapons is being urged to hand them over – safely and legally.
“A good legacy from the Knife Angel’s visit, were the knife boxes where such knives can be deposited. They can also be left at police stations until 23rd September without repercussions for surrendering them, but of course we have no police station in the district anymore.”
The latest data shows that the number of “knife and sharp instrument offences” recorded by Staffordshire Police was 744 in 2023-24, up from 515 in 2015-16.
Genuine question- were we told the cost of hosting the Knife Angel, including security? If not, can we now be told? I remember that about a week after it moved on,a teenage boy was arrested for possession of a knife, just how much good did it do?
The response from the Cabinet member for Community Engagement in July last year to me was:
“The bulk of the costs are being covered by Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner
utilising £20,000 of funding. This covers transportation, the cost of hiring the crane, knife bin
installations, security, insurance etc. We are incurring some installation costs of around
£7,000, we have also set aside £1,000 for engagement activities.”