“KNIFE crime is still very, very rare,” said Thames Valley Police’s chief constable when talking about the reduction of knife crime.

Thames Valley Police force statistics for the year April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, shows that knife crime has reduced by 10.8 per cent from 1,239 incidents last year to 1,105 this year.

Chief constable Jason Hogg said this figure is one he is most pleased to see change on the latest statistics, stating knife crime has been a priority for the force over the last 18 months.

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“We have developed a really sophisticated approach in tackling knife crime,” he said.

“We've got access to data from local authorities, health colleagues, hospitals, unlike many parts of the UK, which has enabled us to identify where knife crime is taking place, who is carrying knives and who is vulnerable for being stabbed by those knives.

“And what that has allowed us to do is we have a database of those hotspot locations where knife crime is happening and those people who are more vulnerable to knife crime and then we've had targeted interventions to those individuals and those places as well.”

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, he added that, within the force’s Operation Deterrence, they have tried to charge people caught with a knife on the very same day and get them into court quickly in their ‘very robust’ approach.

“We’ve had some great, great support from the judiciary and local magistrates on that.”

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However, he said he understands that, despite knife crime statistically being lower, that people ‘don't necessarily feel safer’ due to the high-profile of recent incidents across Oxfordshire.

“We tend to share negative stories rather than positive stories,” he said.

“So what I think we can do is make sure that we’re getting the message out there that very often they're not random attacks.

“So we say they usually involve people that know each other they tend to be isolated incidents…and I think we need to do a little bit more to get those positive messages out there, that knife crime is still very, very rare indeed.

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“I think we need to do more at promoting some of the positive. I think people know what we're doing and that they are reassured when we take a balanced approach.”

As well as knife crime reducing, the number of knife crime-related arrests has also decreased from 859 arrests last year to 755 arrests this year.

He concluded: “It's been a bit of a journey we've been on but all that hard work does I do feel like it's paying off.”