Bristol knife crime? It's not that bad, says top policeman
Days after a father was stabbed to death in a Withywood street, Assistant Chief Constable John Long said the incident was not indicative of a wave of knife crime similar to the one that has hit London.
He said: "We don't have the problems of the capital.
In London 18 young people have lost their lives in knife attacks this year. Metropolitan Police have made knife crime their "number one priority" and set up a 75-strong task force.
In Bristol on Saturday, father-of-two John Derrick, 43, was found lying in the road in Gatehouse Avenue, Withywood, with stab wounds to the head and chest.
He died in Frenchay Hospital on Sunday. Two men and a woman have been arrested in connection with his death.
The incident followed the knifing of Alan Riddock, 41, outside a Bedminster pub in May.
Four people have been charged with his murder.
But the Avon and Somerset force has not been included in a list of eight "hotspot" areas being targeted in a new national offensive against knife crime.
And 46-year-old Mr Long, who worked in London for 18 years before joining Avon and Somerset police in 2003, said the two Bristol incidents were not a reflection of a wider problem.
He said that a lot of work had been done after the tragic death of Linval Wright, who was stabbed to death outside his home in Lena Street, Easton, four years ago.
Mr Long said: "His mother Calota Griffiths made an educational video to help drive home the message to young people about the potential consequences of carrying a knife and you only have to speak to the local education authority to see the efforts that have gone into steering young people away from crime."
Linval was stabbed 16 times by brothers Nathan, 19, and Lee Smith, 17, who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005.
Since then knife crime has gone down 24.9 per cent.
In the year April 2004 to April 2005 there were 1,038 crimes in which a blade was used to threaten or injure, but that includes 278 people arrested for possession of a knife.
In 2007-8, the figure had fallen to 780, with 220 of those counted as possession.
Three people died in Bristol last year after being stabbed but there has been a decline in the number of Bristol people admitted to hospital with knife wounds.
There were 80 in 2005-6, 73 in 2006-7 and 64 last year. Of those 217, 32 were aged under 20, about 14 per cent.
Mr Long said that in most of the crimes in Bristol in which knives were used, the offender and victim knew each other and the incidents were "domestic" in nature or were drug related.
He said: "In the main, the incidents have not involved young people. That?s not to say that young people have not been caught carrying knives, and the figures for knife crime include stop-and-search cases where a knife has been found.
"Where we do come across allegations of knife crime, we treat them very seriously.
"In the main, people who are caught with knives are charged.
"Fortunately, the figures have come down significantly over the last five years and I believe that is due to the work that has been going on in Bristol for a number of years."
The Government was today due to unveil a ?100 million Youth Crime Action Plan.
But Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has already had to back down over a "shock tactic" measure she hoped would stem the growing tide of knife crime.
Other measures include curfews at knife crime hotspots to clear the streets of under-16s after 9pm.
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A 42-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with
the stabbing of Mr Derrick.
A 51-year-old man who was arrested on Sunday morning has been released on police bail, pending further inquiries and a 31-year-old man, arrested on Sunday afternoon, was still being questioned last night.
Anyone with information about Mr Derrick's death is asked to contact Bristol CID on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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