Wiltshire PCC concerned by rise in knife crime

Philip Wilkinson says he has confidence in Wiltshire's Chief Constable to deal with the rise

A police and crime commissioner says the rise of knife crime in his county is "extremely concerning".

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show 308 serious offences involving a knife in Wiltshire in 2022, a 14% increase on the previous year.

The county's PCC Philip Wilkinson said the problem needed to be tackled now, but that he had confidence in Chief Constable Catherine Roper to do so.

There was also a 13% increase in sexual offences during the same period.

On knife crime, Mr Wilkinson, a Conservative, said: "With the seeming regularity of these types of crimes occurring in our communities, it is abundantly clear it is an extremely concerning trend that needs tackling now.  

"I want to take this opportunity to reassure our residents that my office is working hard to take people who are involved or at risk of being involved in knife crime away from these situations," he said.

The figures show that Wiltshire has an overall crime rate of 58.6 per 1,000 people, or 43,816 crimes registered in 2022.

That puts it fourth from bottom in terms of overall offences compared to other areas in England and Wales.

"The important statistics as far as I'm concerned are the number of arrests and charges being made by Wiltshire Police and the subsequent successful prosecutions we see from the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service)," said Mr Wilkinson.

"These are the figures which will give more people the confidence to report crime in the future because, like me, they want to see results and positive outcomes."