Sceptre – a spotlight on knife crime

This week is Sceptre – a national spotlight on the work in policing to tackle knife-related offending.

It’s also an opportunity for the V&V Partnership to reflect on what we do in Essex, to educate on knife crime, provide early intervention programmes for young people and families at risk, and to support those who have been involved in knife crime to choose a better, safer pathway in life.

We also acknowledge the work our colleagues in Essex Police are doing in prevention and enforcement to take hundreds of knives out of the hands of criminals and off the streets every year.

In 2025, Essex Police has:

• Undertaken more than 12,000 stop searches across the county.
• Made more than 1,700 arrests as a result.
• Seized more than 360 weapons, including more than 260 knives or bladed weapons.

Stop and search is a hugely important policing power for protecting the public and tackling crime and has helped reduce knife-enabled crime in Essex.

The multi agency Violence and Vulnerability Partnership complements this work with our focus on early intervention and education. Our tactics to prioritise this national issue include:

• Supporting young people involved in knife crime to ReRoute – our programme which sees skilled practitioners build trust and relationships to deter future offending.
• Visiting thousands of young people across dozens of schools and colleges.
• Delivering projects supporting young people at risk – programmes such as youth clubs, mentoring, sports provision.  
• Funding knife bins to ensure there are safe disposal options for people who want to keep knives off our Essex streets, helping to keep our communities safe. 

As a result knife enabled offences are reducing across Essex, and we will continue to work hard to bring these figures down further. One knife crime is one too many.