YOUNG people must be listened to in relation to the dangers of knife crime after a major survey found it was one of the biggest fears among youngsters, Essex's police boss has said.
Roger Hirst, who has been Essex’s fire and crime commissioner since 2016, has committed to doing more to tackle knife crime in the county.
It comes after the Essex Violence and Vulnerability Unit commissioned a project to find the main concerns for young people in Essex regarding youth violence.
The survey, called the Youth Voices Report, considered the views of 1,553 young people across the county.
Responses found knife crime and stabbings were more worried about than any other form of youth violence, with 16 per cent of participants listing it as their greatest worry.
In Colchester specifically, the 94 survey participants said their main fear was fighting and violence, but knives and stabbing were chief concerns in previous surveys conducted from 2020 to 2022.
A summary for the district of Colchester read: “Young people in general are worried around drug dealers and knife crime, but there seems to be an even bigger concern around youth violence and fighting.”
Ahead of the installation of the Knife Angel statue, which will be in Colchester for the month of October, Mr Hirst has said it is vital for law enforcement to act upon young people’s responses to the survey.
He said: “I hope the visit of the Knife Angel to Colchester can be a platform to educate about knife harm and the dangers of carrying a knife.
“They are difficult conversations to have, but our young people have told us they are concerned about knife crime and now we have to listen.”
However, figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show the authorities have a major task on their hands to bring knife crime down from levels recorded a decade ago.
The statistics, which are available on the ONS website, show there were 531 knife and sharp instrument offences recorded by Essex Police from April 2011 to March 2012.
Since then, however, the number of offences has trebled, with 1,642 knife and sharp instrument offences recorded between April 2022 and March 2023.
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