Police increase patrols in response to Swindon violence

Craig Hiscock works with young people for a charity that offers mentoring

Police have said they are already seeing an impact after deploying more officers into a town after an upsurge in violence.

Wiltshire Police has increased patrols in Swindon after a rise in knife crime in particular.

The county's police and crime commissioner (PCC) said the outbreak of violence was "extremely concerning".

Craig Hiscock, who works for a youth mentoring charity, said a "number of factors" were involved in the increase.

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.

Wiltshire PCC Philip Wilkinson said the problem needed to be tackled, but told the BBC that a police recruitment drive was helping as more patrols were being deployed.

'It's very worrying'

The Operations Manager at BEST - Be A Better You - Mr Hiscock said the number of knife crime incidents in particular is "significantly higher" than when he started with the charity in 2020.

"It's constant. You've only got to look at the Swindon Advertiser or the news - someone was killed in Bath at the weekend," he said.

"It's just everywhere you look at the moment, people reporting stabbings. It's very worrying."

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He said BEST was trying to divert young people in Swindon away from carrying weapons, or being exploited into doing so.

"The cost-of-living crisis is having an impact," he said.

"Families don't have enough money to give them the things that they aspire to have in terms of clothes, image - that kind of thing.

"You've got gangs that are specifically coming to Swindon, setting up county lines [drug operations] here, targeting vulnerable young people, getting them in debt."

Owen Dunn was stabbed to death in Swindon in December 2022

Mr Hiscock said the "big question" was how to tackle the root causes.

"We're providing one-to-one mentoring for young people. We provide activities and work with them holistically, looking at what's going on in that young person's life."

'There are success stories'

He said there had been some success stories, and that young people can "definitely" be turned away from violence.

"Maybe we don't share it enough but we've got young people we've worked with who have walked away from that life of crime, of gang activity.

"We've always said, we can't save everyone but if we can save one person and get them on the right track then it's all been worth it.

"But it is down to the young person - we can only do so much."

Problem areas targeted

Wiltshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Deborah Smith said she was as "equally worried" as the force's PCC about the "significant increase" in knife crime in the county over the past year.

She said patrols targeting areas which had issues with gangs and knife crime had been stepped up and would continue to be over the next few weeks as part of a dedicated push to tackle the issue.

"We will be searching people, we will be stopping them, seeking to gain information from our local communities to try and tackle those individuals who are carrying knives and using them as a weapon."

Eight people had been arrested over the past week as a result of increased patrols, she added, and there are "a number of investigations ongoing".

Wiltshire Police has stepped up patrols in areas affected by knife crime

"We know many of the people carrying knives are youths, they are young.

"We've seen two terrible deaths last year - the death of Owen Dunn and Lee Turner, both young gentlemen, and we know of course that the threats on our streets at the moment are largely linked to youths who are associating with gangs."

Asst Ch Con Smith said getting to the root causes of why young people are carrying knives is "not just a policing issue".

"Education is critical, so we're working closely with our schools to really try and educate youngsters about the dangers and perils of carrying knives.

"We're working with the local authorities really closely, looking at diversionary activities, and importantly our Police and Crime Commissioner who commissions a lot of the services that seek to support youngsters to try and divert them away from crime and away from carrying weapons."

She encouraged people to contact the police with any information about knives, and said "a lot of intelligence" was coming into Wiltshire Police from communities across the county, leading to several recent arrests.