PCC praises police & public in battle against blades

Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Donna Jones, is warning that one knife on the streets of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is one too many.

That’s despite the Constabulary and its partners achieving a reduction in reported serious offences involving a knife across the two counties of more than 22% in the three years to December 2024 from 1,302 incidents in 2022 to 1,010 in 2024.

Donna Jones joined officers during the Op Sceptre week of action against knife crime in May, praising them for their proactive approach to the issue. She also thanked members of the public for their ongoing commitment, helping to get more dangerous bladed weapons off the streets.

Last month’s week of action saw 890 knives were recovered with 19 knife-related arrests made by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, compared to 338 knives and 30 arrests in November 2024, while there were 281 knives recovered and 7 arrests in May 2024.

During this latest Op Sceptre initiative, which ran across the two counties from last Monday, the Police and Crime Commissioner also joined officers in Commercial Road, Portsmouth at a public engagement event along with staff from the South Central Ambulance Service and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service too.

Donna Jones said: “Knives kill and they injure people. A multi-agency approach is needed to ensure the most robust approach to dealing with the impact of knife-carrying and the devastating after effects of knife crime. It remains one of my top priorities as Police and Crime Commissioner.

“I am determined to keep young people safe and the work we have already done in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has seen us with one of the biggest reductions in knife crime across the country, but there is more work to be done. One knife on the street is one too many.

“In all of our towns and cities across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the police are out in your communities, working with the young people at risk of carrying a knife and those who are habitual carriers of knives.

“Sceptre plays an important role in getting more knives off the streets and get to the root causes of why someone decides to carry a knife. My office work closely with the Constabulary through my Violence Reduction Unit to support young people through local organisations, schools and the Youth Justice Service.

“The police and its partners are committed to making our communities safer, getting knives off of our streets and making sure that young people do not feel that they need to carry a knife for protection.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner funds a number of intervention programmes designed to tackle serious violence. They include programmes in schools that address knife crime, custody navigators for those who need to be diverted away from criminality, and grant funding for projects in communities.

The programmes were commissioned by the PCC’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) that works in partnership to reduce violence among under 25 year olds.