NI shops failing to ID for knife sales
'Mystery shopper' tests in Northern Ireland show 2/5 of retailers are not checking ages when selling knives.
41 percent of shops in Northern Ireland sell knives to underage children, research suggests.
Figures from retail age checking company Serve Legal showed that shop workers across the UK failed to check the age of mystery shoppers buying a knife in 26% of 2,357 test sales in 2017.
Among shops classed as homeware or DIY stores, where 672 tests were carried out, 41% sold the blades to mystery shoppers without checking identification. This also happened in a fifth of supermarkets (21%) where 1,685 test purchases were carried out.
Regionally, the poorest rates were in Northern Ireland and Scotland, which both saw retailers failing 41% of tests. London had the lowest proportion with 18% of tests failed.
Northern Ireland, it is illegal to sell knives to under 18s.
The figures were released amid concerns about a rise in gun and knife crime. The latest data published by the Office for National Statistics showed 39,598 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument were recorded across the UK in 2017, a 22% increase compared with the previous year, and the highest number registered since comparable records started in 2010.
In Northern Ireland alone the latest PSNI crime figures show offences around possession of knives, blades and sharp instruments have been steadily on the rise for the past 15 years. Last year alone saw 213 recorded offences.
Superintendent Simon Walls from District Policing Command said: “We are not complacent about knife crime and our figures show that there has been a reduction in the number of incidents recorded. We also continue to focus our efforts on the prevention of knife crime.
“We have developed an educational package ‘Guns and Knives ruin lives.’ The presentation has been delivered by operational officers to various schools and youth clubs across Northern Ireland. The presentation aims to make real the risks of knives and to reinforce the message that the carrying of knives is illegal and that knives take lives.
“Our message is clear and simple, never carry a knife. It is unacceptable in any circumstances and the consequence of carrying or using a knife can be huge.
“The issue of knives is not just a policing one. But it is police who are left to deal with the sometimes terrible consequences of when a knife has been used. In reality we need the whole community to work together to deal with this issue and to reinforce the messages knives are illegal, don’t carry them. They take lives.”
Ed Heaver, director of Serve Legal, said: "Against a backdrop of rising knife crime, news headlines about school-age victims and perpetrators are shockingly frequent.
"Our latest retail test data reveals that despite the principles of the government's voluntary agreement on underage sales, which many retailers have agreed to adhere to, complacency on the high street could well be contributing to a deadly societal problem, with knives being sold to young people in plain sight.''
The company used young looking 18 and 19-year-olds in the test purchases.