OVERBURDENED police officers in South Yorkshire Police are unable to carry out the work necessary to prevent knife crime, the new Chairman of the force\u2019s Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, speaking after news reports showed there are nearly 1,000 knife crime offences in the force in just one year, said: \u201cWe can’t do much more with the resources we have. For officers to go out and catch criminals they need the resources to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police officers are \u201cworking their backsides off\u201d to combat the issue, he added.<\/p>\n
In the 12 months up to June, South Yorkshire Police recorded 977 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument. In Sheffield alone there have been eight fatal stabbings so far this year, with the victims aged between 15 and 85.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cThere clearly has been a spike in knife crime – I have personally recently attended several serious incidents, and I can see first-hand the impact that knife crime is having.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to go on record to say that officers throughout the force are doing their very best to try and combat this, however what I\u2019m concerned about is that just due to sheer demand they don\u2019t always have the time to go out and proactively target offenders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheffield has a reputation as one of the UK\u2019s safest cities, Steve said, but he called for the Government to fund a proactive operation akin to those carried out in the capital that would enable officers the time and money to go out and target known offenders and suspects.<\/p>\n
Confusion around stop and search has also hindered the prevention of knife crime, Steve said, despite the fact that commanders are encouraging officers to increase the number of searches.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers have been frustrated by the poor guidance from the College of Policing in relation to stop and search, as well as the totally unacceptable suggestions of racism by certain media outlets. I just think that officers\u2019 confidence has been knocked and this confidence, in terms of stop and search, may take a little time to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics this month show that police-recorded crime has increased by almost a tenth nationally, fuelled by rises in murders, knife-related offences, robberies and theft.<\/p>\n
Read more at: https:\/\/www.thestar.co.uk\/news\/nearly-1-000-knife-crime-offences-recorded-in-south-yorkshire-in-one-year-1-9403946<\/p>\n