Weapons Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2017

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

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

This page is part of the latest release | View all pages in this release or view previous releases

Police recorded 7,130 (22%) more crimes involving weapons, with knife crime in cities rising most

England and Wales, year ending March 2011 to year ending December 2017

Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office

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Main findings for weapons crime

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

Police recorded firearms offences have increased over the last three years

England and Wales, year ending March 2003 to year ending December 2017

Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office

Notes:

  1. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.
  2. 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.
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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.

Get the data

This bulletin mainly reports on data from two sources of crime data: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime.

More information on both these sources can be found in the User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales.

View all data

More about the data used in this bulletin

Further analysis on offences involving knives or sharp instruments and firearms can be found in Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables. This includes figures based on a broader definition of the types of firearm involved, such as air rifles.

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

There are some other categories of Police Recorded Crime data which can be broken down by whether or not a firearm, knife or sharp instrument was involved.

  • Homicide
  • Attempted murder
  • Threats to kill
  • Assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm
  • Robbery
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault

The Focus on violent crime and sexual offences publication includes data on offences involving a knife or sharp instrument going back to the year ending March 2009.

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.

Hospital admissions data are from NHS Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity, 2015 to 2016 and NHS Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity, 2016 to 2017.

Recently published data by London’s Air Ambulance Data are from London’s Air Ambulance Mission Maps 2017.

Information about these statistics

How do we measure this?

There are two main sources of data for this release:

  1. Crime Survey of England and Wales
    The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) is a survey which asks people whether they have been victims of a crime over the past 12 months.
  2. Police recorded crime
    Police recorded crime is crime that has been reported to the police, and recorded as part of police casework.

Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

More information on both these sources can be found in the User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales.

More information on the methodology can be found in the Crime in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information report.

Data recorded by the police about crimes involving knives or sharp instruments are collected separately to other types of police recorded crime.

Other offences exist that are not shown in this section that may include the use of a knife or sharp instrument.

What do you need to know about these numbers?

Strengths and limitations of the data
The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) is a survey which asks people whether they have been victims of a crime over the past 12 months. The survey has been consistent since 1981 and therefore is the best source to use when looking at trends over time. It is also a better measurement of crimes which are less likely to be reported to the police, such as, sexual offences.

Police recorded crime is crime that has been reported to the police, and recorded as part of police casework, making these figures sensitive to changes in policing practices and victims’ willingness to report crime. Therefore, an increase in the number of crimes recorded by the police does not necessarily mean that crime itself has increased. While it is good for understanding how much work police forces are carrying out, it is not a useful way to monitor trends and we do not recommend using it for exploring crime trends.

Police recorded crime is a good measurement of:

  • Homicide
  • Firearm / gun crimes
  • Crimes involving a weapon

Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

Time periods covered
The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales figures presented in this release are based on interviews conducted between January 2017 and December 2017, measuring peoples’ experiences of crime in the 12 months before the interview.

The latest recorded crime figures relate to crimes recorded by the police during the year ending December 2017 (between January 2017 and December 2017).

In this release:

  • “latest year” (or “latest survey year”) refers to the (survey) year ending December 2017
  • “previous year” (or “previous survey year”) refers to the (survey) year ending December 2016

Increases in targeted police action in relation to knife crime could lead to more knife crimes being detected by Police Recorded Crime.

It is likely that improvements in crime recording have affected some of the data in this bulletin. For example:

  • around one-third (32%) of the rise is due to an increase in possession of firearms offences with intent – these offences may have been recorded as simple possession offences previously, which are not covered by this data collection
  • around one-tenth (9%)of the increase is in offences involving some of the less serious weapons such as soft air weapons, BB guns, pepper spray and CS gas – it is likely that these are now included in police returns when previously they were excluded.

At time of publication, Greater Manchester Police were reviewing their knife crime figures, therefore data should be used with caution. Data will be updated following the review.

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Glossary

Firearms
Crimes include shotguns; handguns; rifles; imitation weapons such as BB guns or soft air weapons; other weapons such as CS gas or pepper spray and stun guns; and unidentified weapons. These figures 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.

A comprehensive guide to crime types and definitions can be found in the ONS User Guide.

More pages in this release

Crime in England and Wales

Over the long-term, crime has fallen, but some crimes have risen slightly in the previous 12 months.

Released: 26 April 2018

Fraud in England and Wales

No change in the volume of fraud offences in the last year

Released: 26 April 2018

Violent crime in England and Wales

Little change in levels of violent crime in recent years.

Released: 26 April 2018

Contact us

Mark Bangs
crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk
+44 (0)2075 928689

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