The head of West Midlands Police has set out the three problems which he believes are driving an increase in knife violence.
Dave Thompson, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, was speaking in the House of Commons, where MPs are holding an inquiry into the spate of violence that has led to tragic deaths in Birmingham and other cities such as London and Manchester.
He said there three issues behind the violence. One was the drugs trade.
Mr Thompson told MPs: “I think we absolutely do see a proportion of the stabbings around younger people who are on the periphery of urban street gangs, involved in street level drug dealing.”
A second was other types of crime including car theft.
“Then you’ve also got some of those young people and other groups involved in what I would call the projection of force around acquisitive crime, particularly robbery.
“There’s a particular challenge in the West Midlands around vehicle robberies.”
And he said some stabbings were simply a result of teenage fights over issues such as "respect", sometimes encouraged by music videos and social media.
“The third group, and I think this the broader issue, the proliferation of weapon carrying, the fist fight becoming a knife fight. A number of cases we’ve seen are straightforward conflicts around young people that result in a knife being produced.
“It’s unquestionably concentrated in more deprived communities.”
He added: “I think there are some social media trends play in to that - particularly respect, losing face. as well as things like drill music and other influencing factors.”
Some young people identified closely with their local community and were likely to carry a knife if they travelled to an area with a different postcode where they felt unsafe, he said.
“That identification around postcodes does play out, very much so.”
Mr Thompson said his officers would like to do more to keep young people safe - but the money isn’t available.
He said: “My observation would that young people at the moment feel under-protected.”
Asked what he would do if more funding was provided, he said: “Visibility around school closing times. Safe routes for young people to travel in areas. They are all strategies I would employ.”
The Chief Constable was speaking to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.
There have been more than 100 knife attacks in Birmingham over 10 weeks.
Teenagers Sidali Mohamed, Abdullah Muhammed and Hazrat Umar are among those killed.
The city has also witnessed youths brawling with knives and weapons on Bull Street and outside Matthew Boulton College.
In response, West Midlands Police has conducted more than 1,000 stop and search checks, recovering 14 knives and making 24 arrests in just four days between March 1 and March 4.
In the year ending March 2018, 2,850 knife crimes were recorded by West Midlands Police .
That’s up from 2,394 the year before.
