By Ashley Young-
The chief constable of West Midlands Police has complained of inadequate funding and resources to tackle knife crime. it is a “huge problem” that services to steer young people away from knife crime have disappeared.
An experienced professional with the police of almost 30 years, Dave Thompson told BBC Radio 4 Today programme that some youngsters can be diverted away from violence through early interventions like conditional cautions, including cognitive behavioural therapy and restorative justice.
Welcoming an extra £7.5 million funding boost from the Government, mr Thompson said his force has 2,000 fewer police officers than in 2010. “There is an absolute resourcing issue and I would not hide from that,” he said. Chief Constable Dave Thompson said:” “We have got some extra funding, which is helpful, but I think there is a huge issue here.”There is no question in this force area that when we look to diversion services, they don’t exist in the way they did.”
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He added: “We have just got to be careful what we don’t do is see the answer as criminalising ever more groups of young people, perhaps for very minor offences, because I think that would just compound the problem.”
Mr Thompson welcomed an extra £7.5 million funding boost from the Government, but said his force has 2,000 fewer police officers than in 2010. “There is an absolute resourcing issue and I would not hide from that,” he said. Chief Constable Dave Thompson says the pub bombings investigation is “proactive and ongoing.” “We have got some extra funding, which is helpful, but I think there is a huge issue here.
“There is no question in this force area that when we look to diversion services, they don’t exist in the way they did.””There is an absolute resourcing issue and I would not hide from that,” he said.
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Knife crime reached a record level last year in England and Wales with 40,829 offences involving knives or sharp objects recorded by police in 2018. Ten people in Birmingham were killed in the last year, half of them being teenagers of them teenagers. Gang culture is rife in Birmingham, but knifes are not just a problem here, guns are also more accessible on the streets of Birmingham than is given attention to.
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