Knife crime in borough doubles

Knife crime in the Oswestry borough has doubled over the last year - but Shrewsbury remains Shropshire's hotspot for incidents outside Telford, new figures reveal.

Officers across the county also confiscated 346 knives between July last year and June, although crime involving the weapons across the West Mercia force area in 2007/08 accounted for less than one per cent of all recorded crime.

The statistics, revealed by West Mercia Constabulary, show 18 knife crimes were reported in the Oswestry borough in 2007/8, all but four of which resulted in charges being brought.

The year before, there were nine such incidents, two-thirds of which did not end in charges.

The Shrewsbury area again recorded the highest level of knife crime this year, with a total of 39 incidents, all but three of which were in the town itself.

That figure was much the same as last year's.

There were 13 knife incidents in the North Shropshire district this year, compared with 14 last year, and there were seven in the south of the county, exactly the same as in 2006/07.

Corresponding figures for Bridgnorth district showed a fall from 16 to 10 this year, eight of which did not end in charges being brought.

Overall for the county, there were 50 successful prosecution for crimes involving knives in 2007, compared with 71 in 2004 and nine in 1998. The prosecutions in 2007 involved people aged from 14 to 25.

West Mercia Police spokesman Richard Ewels said: "The number of incidents in Shropshire remains relatively low."

Borough remains a weapons hotspot after nearly 40 reports

Shrewsbury remains a hotspot for incidents of knife crime with nearly 40 reports recorded already this year, figures revealed today.Statistics released by West Mercia Constabulary also show officers across Shropshire confiscated 346 knives between July last year and June.

But crime involving the weapons across the West Mercia force area in 2007/08 accounted for less than one per cent of all recorded crime.

All but three of the incidents in Shrewsbury took place in the town itself and the figure is much the same as 2007.

Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury, said he believed there should be more funding for police in Shropshire to allow a bigger presence on the streets in a bid to prevent people carrying and using knives.

He said: "The West Mercia Police association is the lowest funded police authority in the country. We have nothing like the level of policing that other parts of the country get and that is wrong and is leading to less of a police presence on the street.

"The police do a great job but this is a growing problem."