Overview

• A Policy Exchange report shows knife offences rose 58.5% between 2021 and 2024, with 16,297 incidents in the year to March accounting for nearly one-third of all UK knife crime.
• Clearance rates plunged to just 5.1% for muggings and 0.6% for theft-from-person offences last year, while over 4,500 hyper-prolific offenders avoided immediate custody.
• Just 20 streets around Oxford Circus and Regent Street were the scene of one in every 15 knife attacks in 2024, prompting calls for zero-tolerance patrols and high-volume stop-and-search in hotspots.
• Policy Exchange urged deployment of live facial recognition in top hotspots and mandatory two-year custodial sentences for offenders with 46 or more prior convictions.
• Sir Mark Rowley counters that homicides are down nine percent, knife crime has fallen 16 percent this financial year, and expanded neighbourhood teams bolstered by new technology are improving public safety.