Weapons Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2017

Crime involving knives, guns, and other types of weapon.

Police recorded more crimes involving weapons, with knife crime in cities rising most

63%
of the increase in gun crime was driven by rises in London and Manchester.

Released date: 26 April 2018
Next release: 19 July 2018 (provisional)

Summary

Police recorded the highest number of offences involving knives since 2011.

Offences involving the use of a firearm have also increased in the last year.

Knife crime reaches a seven-year-high

The police recorded 39,598 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year ending December 2017. This is a 22% increase compared with the previous year (32,468), and the highest number in the seven-years' of available data.

The past three years have seen a rise in the number of recorded crimes involving a knife or sharp instrument. Before this, we saw a general downward trend since the year ending March 2011.

"Assault with injury" and "assault with intent to cause serious harm" made up around half (49%) of all crimes involving a knife or sharp instrument. All categories of weapons crime for which we collect data showed increases.

London's Metropolitan Police saw the largest increase (accounting for 48% of the total increase).

Admissions data for NHS hospitals in England shows a 7% increase in assault by a sharp object. Rising from 4,054 in the year ending March 2016 to 4,351 in the following 12 months.

Possession of a blade or point also rose

Police recorded "possession of an article with a blade or point" offences also rose, by 33%, to 17,437 offences. This is consistent with increases seen over the last four years, and the highest figure since the series began in the year ending March 2009.

Firearm crimes have increased for the first time since 2005

Offences involving firearms increased by 11% (to 6,604) in the year ending December 2017, compared with the previous year (5,945 offences).

Police recorded a:

12% increase in offences involving handguns (accounting for 46% of the overall increase)
21% increase in offences involving unidentified firearms
20% increase in offences involving shotguns

NHS England hospital admissions data also shows increases firearm injuries. This rose from 109 admissions in the year ending March 2016 to 135 admissions in the year ending March 2017.

London's Air Ambulance Data also suggest an increase in serious offences involving a weapon. In 2017, injuries resulting from stabbings and shootings were the most common cause for a helicopter to be dispatched.

Data

A breakdown of offences for each police force and the time series for these data are published in the Home Office’s knife crime open data table.

Further analysis on offences involving knives or sharp instruments and firearms, including figures based on a broader definition of the types of firearm involved14, can be found in Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables.

See Homicide in England and Wales: Appendix tables for more information on homicides committed using a knife or sharp instrument.

View all related data

Need to know

What do you need to know about these numbers?

Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

While weapons crimes are relatively well recorded by the police, they can only provide a partial picture as not all offences will come to their attention.

As offences involving the use of weapons are relatively low in volume, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is not able to provide reliable trends for such incidents.

These increases reflect a real rise in the occurrence of these types of crime. It is likely that improvements in recording practices have partly contributed to these rises.

Increases in targeted police action in relation to knife crime can also impact these numbers. This is most likely to occur when offences involving knives rise.

How do we measure this?

Police recorded knife or sharp instrument offences data are submitted via an additional special collection. Proportions of offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument presented in this section are calculated based on figures submitted in this special collection. Other offences exist that are not shown in this section that may include the use of a knife or sharp instrument.

Glossary

Firearms
Firearms include: shotguns; handguns; rifles; imitation weapons such as BB guns or soft air weapons; other weapons such as CS gas, pepper spray and stun guns; and unidentified weapons. They exclude conventional air weapons, such as air rifles.

Sharp instrument
A sharp instrument is any object that pierces the skin (or in the case of a threat, is capable of piercing the skin), for example, a broken bottle.

Crime in England and Wales

While crime has fallen over the long-term, the short-term picture is more stable

What do you need to know

As measured by the Crime Survey of England and Wales

Homicide in England and Wales

The number of homicides has been impacted by recent terrorist attacks

Homicides recorded by the police fall 1% to 688