Stoke Knife Crime Dropping After Horror 2018

Knife crime attacks in Stoke on Trent rose from 204 to 335 incidents between 2014 and 2018. 

There were 204 in 2015, rising to 229 in 2016. In 2017, there were almost 100 more, at 328. In 2018, the figure rose to its highest over the time period, to 335. In 2019, however, the figure dropped dramatically, to 250 incidents. 

A total of 1,346 attacks took place over the last five years. The data was provided by Staffordshire Police following the submission of a Freedom of Information request.

In 2019, there were eight incidents of knife crime in Broadway and Longton East, Burslem Park and Longton South. 10 incidents occurred in Burslem Central, 11 in Hanley Park and Shelton, 12 in Penkhull and Stoke, 13 in Fenton West and Mount Pleasant and 14 in Tunstall. The most attacks happened in Etruria and Hanley, where 29 instances of knife crime happened last year. These neighbourhoods witnessed 618 of the 1,349 total attacks over the five years; some 46%. 

In 2018, Etruria and Hanley was responsible for over 10% of all Stoke’s knife crimes, with 39 of 335 crimes.

130 of all attacks were classed as ‘No Suspect ID’D- Victim No Further Action’, meaning the suspect could not be identified, while ‘Suspect ID’D- Evidential Difficulties’ covered a further 208, meaning the police had a suspect but couldn’t get enough evidence to support a prosecution.

The victim did not want to proceed in 254 total cases, and there was no ‘No Suspect ID’D- completed’ in 269 instances, meaning the suspect could not be identified and the case was closed. The police could not prosecute due to the age of criminal responsibility in 4 instances, while one suspect was too ill to prosecute, and one victim or witness was either too ill or dead, preventing prosecution. 177 charges were made, with a further 87 charges for an alternative offence. 

The media literacy charity The Student View made the findings.