Police winning war on youth knife crime

SCOTLAND'S Police forces have made major inroads towards winning the war on children carrying knives, according to new figures.

The number of under-16s arrested for carrying weapons has halved nationwide, documents from Scotland's police forces have shown.

Arrests in problem areas like Glasgow have dropped by two-thirds from 973 in 2005/06 to 383 in 2009/10, while Central Scotland Police have arrested just six children for carrying weapons this year, down from 98 in 2006.

Grampian Police arrested 37 children in 2009/10 down from 76 in 2005/06, while documents from Tayside Police showed they have arrested 46 in 2009/10, compared to 81 in 2005/06.

The figures, released under FoI legislation, for Lothian and Borders Police showed the number of arrests have fallen by a third since 2005.

Only Fife and Northern Police bucked the trend with both showing only moderate increases in the number of arrests. Dumfries and Galloway were unable to supply figures.

Overall, the number of arrests of under-16s has fallen from 1,345 in 2005/06 to 621 in 2009/10.

The Scottish Government said that the sharp decrease was down to a record number of stop and searches by police and high-profile campaigns raising awareness of the risks of carrying knives.

Campaign groups and politicians have welcomed the decreases but said the fact that children are still being arrested for carrying weapons is still worrying.

The long list of weapons found by police over the five-year-period included samurai swords, machetes, axes, planks of wood lined with nails, and knuckle dusters.

There was an array of knives and air weapons confiscated as well as sporting equipment, such as baseball bats, snooker cues, cricket bats, golf clubs, hockey sticks and mallets.

The youngest child was a five-year-old detained by police for having a razor blade in Lothian and Borders. A six-year-old was stopped for having a knife in the same force area.

David Sinclair, of Victim Support Scotland, added: "We are delighted to see any reduction in knife crime and we are aware that police forces have put significant resources into targeting this problem. However, clearly there's a long road to go down."

John Lamont, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said that despite the reductions, the fact that young children are carrying weapons is "very worrying".

He said: "Clearly the volume of incidents of weapons is a concern.Beyond that, it suggests an ability for people to consider criminal behaviour at such an early age."

Robert Brown, the Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, added: "Recent figures show the percentage of people found with knives during stop and searches has gone down, which suggests the message is getting through."

"The fact that these figures for young people also show less weapons being found is also good. There's no one solution - it's a matter of changing cultural attitudes across the board."

The Scottish Government said that the tactics being used to tackle youths carrying weapons is working, but that police forces would continue the crackdown. A spokesman said the number of people carrying weapons such as knives is now at its lowest level in Scotland in a decade.

"But as the Justice Secretary has made clear, there will be no complacency as there are still too many people carrying weapons in Scotland," he said.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the violence reduction unit, said: "The methods we in Scotland are currently using are proving highly effective. We have always said violence is not a matter for the police alone, and our work has shown there is great commitment across all sectors to reducing violence."

He added that he hoped as public sector budget cuts emerged, efforts to contain violence and weapon carrying would be a "priority."