Revealed: Latest knife crime statistics for the West Midlands, Staffordshire and West Mercia areas

The latest trends in knife crime statistics across the West Midlands have been released. Here we can show you what they are, and how they compare to the rest of the country. 

The local policing authorities for the West Midlands are West Midlands Police, West Mercia Police and Staffordshire Police. Each force has multiple neighbourhood teams that overlook each city and borough. 

Here are the key questions, numbers and trends in the latest knife crime statistics for each force in the West Midlands, which were published on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

How many offences are being recorded?

Some 54,587 offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in 2024.

This is up two per cent from 53,413 offences in 2023, but is below the 55,170 offences in the pre-Covid year - March 2019 to March 2020.

What are the figures for different types of violent knife crime?

Robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument - There has been a rise in the number of police-recorded robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument, up from 22,189 in 2023 to 23,305 in 2024, an increase of five per cent.

The total is still lower than before the pandemic, with 24,419 recorded in 2019/20.

Knife-enabled deaths - This figure stood at 216 in 2024, down 16 per cent from 258 in 2023 and lower than pre-pandemic figures, which showed 265 in 2019/20. 

The number of offences classed as knife-enabled threats to kill has risen slightly, up three per cent year-on-year from 5,797 to 5,979.

Both of these totals are higher than those recorded before the pandemic, 4,935 in 2019/20. 

What are the figures for possession of knives?

The number of offences classed as “possession of an article with a blade or point” stood at 28,150 in 2024, up one per cent year-on-year from 27,892 and higher than the pre-pandemic figure of 23,264 in 2019/20.

It is nearly double the figure for 2016/17 (14,450).

What are the figures like for the West Midlands police forces?

Of the 54,587 knife crime offences in England and Wales in 2024, 9 per cent (4,664) were recorded by West Midlands Police. 

When looking at the number of offences per population, the Metropolitan Police had the highest rate, with 188 per 100,000 people, followed by West Midlands Police at 156 per 100,000. 

An interactive map on the Office for National Statistics website shows that West Mercia Police's catchment area, which covers Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Telford, Hereford and Worcester areas, has a knife crime figure of 42 per 100,000. 

Staffordshire Police's boundary stretching from Kinver up to Leek, Lichfield and Stoke-on-Trent shows figures of 60 per 100,000.