Top cop backs Jail Knife Thugs campaign

Jun 15 2008 by Phil Doherty, Sunday Sun

A TOP cop has backed our campaign for the law courts to Jail Knife Thugs.

Sean Price — chief constable of Cleveland Police — agreed with us that judges have to get tough with those caught with bladed weapons.

But he warned any toughening of the law had to go hand-in-hand with better education on knives in schools, so youngsters understand fully the danger they are putting themselves in by carrying them.

Otherwise, he said, we could end up criminalising many young people who could have been turned away from carrying weapons by better education. He said: “The law courts must take this issue more seriously than they do now.

“From a police point of view, if some one is caught with a knife then there should be a presumption it will go to court and, if jail is the right action, then they should be jailed.

“But if we are going to do this and jail those caught with knives, there must be real rehabilitation alongside the custodial sentences. This doesn’t always happen because of the under-funding of the prison service.”

The Sunday Sun launched its Jail Knife Thugs campaign after it was revealed legal guidelines were issued saying first-time knife offenders should be given community service orders or a fine. Yet, at the same time, another senior judge was calling for tougher sentences to deal with the “epidemic” of knife crime.

A recent online poll by the Sunday Sun found that 94.3 per cent of our readers want those caught with a knife without lawful excuse to face an immediate jail sentence.

Mr Price added: “We don’t have a culture of kids carrying knives that you see in others areas of the country. However, we are having difficulties with people using samurai swords and domestics where a knife is used.

“What we need is a multi-level attack on this issue before it does take hold here. If we simply go for custodial sentences and we were massively successful then we would be criminalising lots of young people.

“What we need to do is get into the minds of the young people and get into schools and educate parents why their children should not be carrying knives.

“The Government is trying to do this with its anti-knife campaign. It’s getting the message across and we need to do more of this.”

The Government has recently unveiled plans to prosecute anyone aged 16 to 18 caught with a knife.

Now it has said that anyone under 16 caught with a blade will face compulsory classes on the dangers of carrying knives. However, they will receive a caution rather than a custodial or community based sentence.

Parents may also be compelled to take an active role in changing their child’s behaviour.

Hospital admissions figures show there were 399 stabbings across the region last year. Research from the Youth Justice Board found that a third of 11 to 16-year-old boys admit to carrying a knife, while 21pc of girls say they carry a blade.

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