Wiltshire knife crime rise prompts Swindon council concern

A recent rise in knife crime in Wiltshire has prompted a call for police to attend a council meeting.

There were 315 crimes involving a knife in the county in 2022, up from 269 the year before, with most happening in Swindon, Wiltshire Police figures show.

Crimes include stabbings, carrying a knife in public and threatening someone with a bladed weapon.

Swindon councillor Adorabelle Shaikh said people are "feeling scared to go out of their homes".

"You would expect a family sort of area to be filled with laughter and families walking about on an evening stroll, but that doesn't happen," the Labour councillor for Swindon Central told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"The percentage of people found with knives is increasingly high and that is what is worrying."

Ms Shaikh said there are "many elements" to the issue and that groups like the council and police needed to work together to spot it early and "nip it in the bud".

"I think acknowledging that you have a problem is a start. This is a stigma, this is fracturing communities and harming children and young families," she added.

The councillor put forward a motion at a Swindon Borough Council meeting on 19 January to call for a plan to be set out about how to tackle knife crime.

Members agreed to invite Wiltshire's police and crime commissioner and chief constable to a scrutiny meeting to discuss the way forward.

Police figures show that in Swindon there were 147 knife crimes in 2019, 119 in 2020, 161 in 2021 and 198 in 2022.

In Wiltshire as a whole, they indicate there were 292 such crimes in 2019, 220 in 2020, 269 in 2021 and 315 in 2022.

Daniel Hegarty, a barber in Swindon, decided to take action in a bid to tackle the problem after a friend was stabbed close to his shop.

He took in two young people from the street to teach them the barbering trade.

The pair are now in college and are still cutting hair, he said.

"I have always wanted to do something, try to help people on the street," Mr Hegarty said.

"Even if we can save one kid off the street, that can be one life saved."

He said he believes the police should be doing more to get knife crime under control.

"It is getting worse and worse in Swindon all the time, police need to definitely step up," he said.

It is not yet known when the meeting at Swindon Borough Council will take place.

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