In the week where I have launched my Youth Participation strategy with a call out to all of Dorset’s under 25’s to share their opinion on crime and policing, I want to focus a little more on an issue that effects younger people in particular – knife crime.

It's Knife Crime Awareness Week and Dorset Police and partners have been working together on multiple projects and activities all week. Although Dorset has some of the lowest knife crime rates in the country - tackling these offences is a key priority for my Office and Dorset Police because we know the damage knife crime can wreak on individuals, families and in our communities.

As well taking enforcement action, Dorset Police have also been working in other ways to help raise awareness of the dangers of carrying knives to help reduce the serious violence this can lead to within our communities. Some of the increased police activity this week has included working with schools and colleges to educate young people on the dangers of knife crime, and conducting ‘under-age’ test purchases alongside trading standards with the help of our police cadets.

I have listened to our residents on this issue, asked what more could be done and taken action to provide the resources needed by officers. This has included funding hand-held metal detectors for every police car in the county and the purchase of two knife arches to help in our fight against knife crime across Dorset. 

Indeed, I was at one of the events this week at the Henry Brown Centre in West Howe watching peoples reaction to the knife arch. I saw people young and old ‘want’ to walk through the arch and I saw people who weren’t so keen and officers were on hand to take action were necessary. 

I know that residents want to see action being taken on knife crime, what they don’t want is rhetoric and so seeing the knife arch being used is very encouraging, because it’s part of the education and enforcement that’s needed to tackle the issue. 

I know people want to see knife-related stop searches, they want to see knife arches being used in order to detect and deter people from carrying knives, they want to see arrests and they want to see that we are tackling the problem from all angles and that is why education and prevention are vitally important.

I also spent some time this week at one of Dorset Police’s Firearms and Knife Education (FAKE) presentations which are funded by my Office. Led by officers, these sessions to secondary school children do not skirt around the issues. They are confronting and I know from speaking to the pupils afterwards, that they leave an impression and if just one young person decides not to ‘pick up a knife’ then the FAKE presentation has done its job.

Our multi-faceted approach is working and as long as I am your Commissioner, I promise to keep this as a priority and do all I can to help drive out the scourge of knife crime in our communities.

David Sidwick

Police and Crime Commissioner