More knife crime incidents recorded in Doncaster's schools than its prisons

Figures provided by South Yorkshire Police show there were 452 knife crime incidents across Doncaster between January 2019 and November 2019.

Of the figure, 191 were found in their possession, 169 used in violence, 56 used in street robberies and nine used in robberies on businesses.

The majority of offences - around a quarter - took place in the town centre while Hatfield, Mexborough, Edlington, Adwick, Conisbrough and Wheatley were identified as hotspots averaging 24 incidents each.

The figures also show 24 knife offences were committed in prisons and a further 26 in Doncaster schools.

Doncaster Supt Neil Thomas told councillors at a recent crime scrutiny meeting that the force’s Serious Violent Crime Taskforce deploys into the target areas on a regular basis.

He added the school figures were ‘not serious offences’ and were mostly ‘low level’ incidents where children were found with knives in their possession.

“When we use intelligence led proactive stop and search, the more you go looking for it the more you will find and that’s a positive,” Supt Thomas said.

“The highest number of offence types is 191 found in possession and that is a direct result of us going out searching in some of our hotspot areas.

“Knife crime can range from the most serious incidents to a school child found with a craft knife in their bags on premises.

“Every knife crime is the most extreme end of the spectrum but the vast majority has occurred in the town centre and part of that is why we concentrate our proactive operations where we carry out most of our knife arch operations.”

Supt Thomas was asked by Coun Mark Houlbrook if a decline in youth services could be linked to a rise in knife crime.

But Supt Thomas responded: “I don’t think it’s a lack of access to youth provision, I think it’s more to do with the social acceptance to carry them.”