Back from the brink Top cop hails a 'turnaround' in knife crime fight

THE first signs of Bristol turning the tide in the campaign against knife crime are beginning to emerge - and police chiefs say it has only been possible with the support and hard work of communities across the city.

- Tristan CORK

Despite an incident in Cribbs Causeway on Monday and after what one police chief described as a “really traumatic and concerning time” for communities in Bristol, there is now a “tangible change in the last six months’, with reductions in the numbers of young people caught carrying knives, and crimes involving knives.

Chief Inspector Mike Vass, from Avon and Somerset police, told the Post that this has only been possible because of the hard work over a long period of time from groups, campaigners and community leaders across the city, working with the police and targeting efforts to focus on young people with education and support.

Chief Insp Vass said there was still a long way to go, because the statistics showing numbers of young people carrying knives and involved in knife crime had been rising steadily over the past ten years before the latest figures, but he said the new approach to work with communities was beginning to show the first signs of working.

"The years 2023 into 2024 was a really really traumatic and concerning time for the communities," he said.

"We saw a significant loss of lives, specifically in our children and young people, and street-based violence like we've never seen before - a real troubling moment," he added.