Knife crime down 25% in a year

Knife crime in the West Midlands has fallen by 25% in the last two years.

The number of incidents dropped from 5,268 to 3,946 between March 2025 and March 2026, figures presented to the police and crime commissioner's (PCC) accountability and governance board showed.

PCC Simon Foster hailed the drop as a "significant achievement" but said more work needed to be done, adding: "One knife crime offence is one too many."

The meeting heard the number of weapons recovered through stop and search activity had risen by 16.4%, to 1,035.

Board members also heard on Tuesday that serious youth violence continued to decline across the region.

Offences across the year fell by 14.9%, and reflected the impact of ongoing partnership work to prevent young people from becoming involved in violence and exploitation, the meeting was told.

Foster said: "These figures represent significant progress in our aim to prevent and tackle knife crime and serious youth violence.

"Every violent offence prevented, every knife removed from our streets and every young person diverted away from crime helps make our communities safer."

He said the "significant achievement" demonstrated the impact of investment, partnership working and proactive policing.

"Protecting young people from violence, exploitation and criminality is one of my top priorities, and these results show that our collective efforts are making a positive difference," he added.

He pledged to keep working closely with police, the Violence Reduction Partnership, authorities, schools and the community to "drive down violence even further and ensure that everyone feels safe and secure".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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