Big drop in Coventry youth knife crime
It's fallen by 42 per cent this year
Coventry has seen a massive drop in youth knife crime this year as overall crime in the city fell, a meeting heard yesterday (November 22).
The amount of serious youth crime involving knives in the city since April is down by 42%, compared to the same point last year.
Fresh data also shows the city’s overall crime rate is down by 7.5% on where it was this time last year, a comparison known as ‘year to date.’
Coventry police superintendent Ronan Tyrer told the meeting the statistics are “astronomically successful.”
It comes months after a more localised policing model was brought to the city, the meeting heard.
And it follows the launch in April of a pioneering, multi-million pound project to reduce violent crime in Coventry and Wolverhampton.
This scheme, called the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), had success in Northampton, reducing levels of violence by around 40%.
It has now led to West Midlands Police gaining 10 officers and is based at the Moat House Community Centre in north Coventry.
The project aims to identify people most likely to be involved in violence and supporting them to find ways out of it, with 24/7 help available.
Over 300 people have now been referred to the service and it is actively working with 51 individuals, the meeting heard.
The city’s temporary Superintendent Daryl Lyon led the project in Northampton and is now overseeing its roll-out in the West Midlands.
He said: “I think it’s worth recognising, one of the reasons we got the funding is a recognition of the excellent partnership working that’s already happening in the city.”
A report for the meeting said the project is “complex” but “primarily designed to engage anyone over 14 years and connect them to an exit pathway from gangs, violence and county lines.”
The scheme also “coordinates disruptive functions for those who are primarily adults who have been referred, who are criminally active yet fail or refuse to engage.”
It has eight steps and more information can be found here.
Temporary Supt. Lyon also told the meeting of the progress the city has made in tackling gang-related violence.
“I am really pleased we have seen a massive drop-off in relation to gang disputes in the city, more than we ever imagined,” he said.
Gang fights and retribution across the city are “now very rare,” compared to two years ago he added.
“It’s now very rare for serious incidents to happen.”
Part of this is the partnership response that has developed “around the room,” he added, addressing the wide number of representatives at the meeting.
He also said that the city has the highest concentration of gang injunctions anywhere in the country.